Our Love is What Connects us
by JellyBeanBubbles
Summary: He was born to be a King, but when tragedy struck he ran away in guilt. Now 10 years later he is reunited with his childhood friend and she begs him to help save his dying kingdom. Will he go back home to help the girl he loves, or will his guilt hold him back? [Based on Disneys' 'The Lion King, but with magic of course] Strictly a NaLu fic. This is a MUST READ :D
1. A Prince is Born

**[A/N: This story is based off Disney's The Lion King]**

**[Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or The Lion King, I just own this story]**

**CHAPTER 1: A PRINCE IS BORN**

The entire Kingdom of Magnolia was in celebration, the citizens were all waiting patiently outside King Igneel's palace, for his wife; Grandine, had just given birth to their first son and the kingdoms first heir. They were all there in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the new crowned prince when he was to be presented to the public. The kings' head of security was waiting patiently in the balcony with his 4-year-old grand-daughter; Erza, it was going to be her job to protect and watch over the young prince should he ever get into trouble, and knowing that he was Igneel's son, this kid would defiantly get into trouble.

"Grandpa, can't we spar while we wait? This is boring" said Erza, she had her arms crossed over her chest and was pouting, she was itching to play with her wooden sword that was attached to her waist. **[A/N: Coz there's no way in hell I'm letting a 4-year-old hold a real sword, even if it is Erza]**

Her grandpa just looked at her and smiled "Be patient child, once the prince has been presented we can spar for as long as you like" said the old man, Erza just huffed in annoyance

"Man, this kid is gonna be trouble for me when he's older, I can just feel it" said Erza. Her grandpa just chuckled and nodded his head, agreeing with her.

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><p>Igneel and Grandine were waiting for their doctor and oldest friend to arrive, he was to check their sons' health, baptize him by giving him the mark of their kingdom; which was a symbol of a fairy with a tail on it, and since they had named him the god-parent as well, they also gave him the honour of presenting their son to the people. Grandine was in their bedroom, holding her sleeping child in her arms while looking out her window to see the people, while Igneel was outside their room leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, waiting for his friend (who was late) to arrive.<p>

"Ah there you are Igneel! Sorry for being late, I got lost for a while back there, hehehe" said a small old man with grey hair and a moustache, he was grinning sheepishly while scratching the back of his head as he made his way to Igneel.

"Seriously Makarov!? What do you mean you got lost!? You've been here at least a dozen times!" yelled Igneel _'Geez, what am I gonna do with you Makarov'_ thought Igneel.

"Hahahaha, well that's true but the hallways still all look the same to me, hahaha!" said Makarov.

Igneel just let out a sigh, and laughed along with his friend. He knelt down to give his friend a hearty hug and was grinning ear to ear.

"It's been too long old friend, how are you doing?" said Igneel

"Well lets see, I'm old and crabby with a bad back, and just recently I was asked to travel to some palace to check up on some brat and then show him off to a bunch of random strangers…"

"Hahahaha, so basically life's been pretty good!" said Makarov.

He and Igneel then exchanged glances and continued to laugh wholeheartedly to each other, they then got up and made their way to Igneel's bedroom.

"It's good to see you haven't changed old friend, you'll love my son, and he looks just like me!" exclaimed Igneel, he had a proud look on his face and the biggest grin ever.

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><p>They entered the bedroom and made their way towards Grandine, who was still holding her son who was still sleeping away. When she saw them both approaching she smiled a smile of pure joy. Igneel came up to his wife and child and gave them both a kiss on the forehead, he was so happy right now that his grin couldn't get any bigger, he had been blessed with a beautiful wife who he loved dearly and now they shared a son. He pulled them in for a hug.<p>

"Well I'll be damned, you were right Igneel! The brat does look like you, his hair is a shed lighter though" exclaimed Makarov as he saw the child.

"Hahahaha, I know right, isn't he adorable!?" said Igneel while still holding his wife.

"Ssshh! Not so loud dear, he'll start screaming" said Grandine, her child had a little too much energy as it is, and she was not about to wake him up after she finally got him to sleep "But you're right though, he does look just like you" she said with a smile.

"May I?" asked Makarov as he gestured to Grandine that he would like to hold the child.

Grandine bent down and let Makarov hold her son, he was going to begin examining him to check his health and his magical power, and then later he would give him the mark of their kingdom as a blessing. They were now both observing Makarov and waiting for his verdict on their son.

"Hmmmm, I sense a great magical power inside of him, and he has perfect health too. Great job you two, you've given birth to quite a powerful kid" said Makarov with a smile.

Igneel and Grandine were holding each other and looking at their son with eyes filled with pride.

"I can't say for certain but it looks like he may have inherited your power Igneel, but we'll only know for certain when he's about 5-years-old or so. Man this kid looks like a trouble maker already" said Makarov, sighing in exhaustion.

"Awww man, I have to wait soo long!" Igneel complained, Makarov just sweat-dropped; he knew how desperate the guy was to have his son be a fire-mage like him, but he just wasn't sure yet.

Grandine let out a small laugh "Hahaha, oh don't worry dear, I'm sure he's inherited your fire" she said

"In the meantime we'd best get him ready to be presented to the people, Makarov still has to baptize him-""- Actually I just finished that." Makarov interjected "We can head on over to the balcony now."

He had placed the kingdoms mark on the kids' right shoulder, and gave it a red colour, the same as Igneels' hair. He was starting to walk out of the room to get to the balcony, completely oblivious to the parents shocked faces.

"Eh!? So fast?!" they both exclaimed, they didn't even see it happen, they walked out behind Makarov, but Igneel noticed that he was heading in the wrong direction.

"Oi Makarov! The balcony's this way you old fart!" yelled Igneel as he stopped to wait for his friend to turn around.

Makarov stopped in his tracks, and then made a sudden u-turn, briskly walking past Igneel to try to hide his face of embarrassment.

"E-ehehehe, I-I knew that, hahaha, I was just messing around with ya, ehehe" said Makarov in a lame attempt to hide his shame.

Igneel and Grandine just sweat-dropped at their friends' antics, then followed behind him on their way to the balcony.

* * *

><p>They had finally reached the balcony where Erza and her grandpa had been waiting for them, with Makarov still holding the prince.<p>

"Oh Erza, I was wondering where you were, how are you young lady?" asked Makarov with a smile, he was friends with Erza's grandpa and was there when she was born, so he was like a second Grandpa to her.

"Its ok I guess, there's a lot of people down there though, and grandpa won't let me play with him until you show off the prince!" said Erza "So hurry up already!"

She was starting to throw a tantrum but stopped when her grandpa put his hand on her shoulder, she knew she had to be on her best behaviour, but was so bored that she just forgot.

"I'm sowwy**[A/N: well she is 4, she can't have a completely perfect vocabulary, even if she is Erza]**, I was being selfish" she apologized and bowed her head.

"Hahaha, don't worry about it Erza, it's mostly our fault for taking so long anyway, my bad sweety." said Igneel as he patted Erza's head to try and comfort her. She just nodded her head and stayed silent while Igneel just smiled at her _'She's quite mature for her age' _he thought.

"OK lets get this over with, your damn peoples screaming are gonna make me deaf over hear!" yelled Makarov as he made his way to the stool that was placed before the ledge of the balcony. Just then the baby woke up, but instead of screaming when he saw Makarov, he gave out a little baby laugh and started pulling on Makarovs' moustache thinking it was some kind of toy, while Makarov just let him and pulled an exhausted face _'Damn, I knew this kid would be trouble, and to think he's just a baby, who knows what he'll be like when he's older' _thought Makarov.

But just before he stepped on the stool he suddenly realized something. He stopped in his tracks and then faced the kids parents "Hey by the way, what the heck is your sons' name? I can't exactly show him to the people and then not tell them what you named him, now can I?" said Makarov.

Igneel and Grandine's eyes widened in realization, they forgot to tell Makarov his name. So Igneel walked over to Makarov and whispered it in his ear.

Upon hearing the name Makarov let out a small chuckle "Really Igneel, you and your wife sure have a thing for names don't you" he said.

Igneel then grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head and chuckled.

Makarov then made his way up the stool, holding the baby low in his arms so that not all of the people could see him, then all the people went silent, waiting for Makarov to speak.

"Ahem, I present to you your crowned prince of Magnolia, the young Prince! To commemorate his summer birth; his name has been chosen as: Natsu!" Makarov shouted as he lifted the prince for all of the people to see.

Then all the citizens began to cheer and shout out the princes' name, and he was just laughing and smiling at them, everyone was happy…

Or so it seemed…

"Damn that Igneel! If it weren't for that kid I would have been next in line!"

* * *

><p><strong>Who is this man? <strong>

**What will become of our young prince?**

**Why am I asking you all these questions? [haha, sorry, couldn't resist :P]**

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><p><strong>Hope you liked the first chapter, the next ones gonna be even better :D<strong>


	2. Lessons and Fighting

**CHAPTER 2: Lessons and Fighting**

**[A/N: Wow! Cant believe what a good response im getting for this story, thanks to all my new favs and followers, here's the next chapter, enjoy :D]**

In a noble house just outside the gates of the kingdom, there is a man with black hair and red eyes. He had entered his kitchen area where the cooks had left a chicken in his cage, waiting to be turned into the mans next meal. The man opened the cage and grabbed the struggling chicken by the neck, giving it a look-over.

"Life's not fair is it?" he asked the chicken with false sympathy.

"In my case, I, can never be King, hahaha, but you… won't see the light of another day, hahaha, too bad" he laughed as he was preparing to put the chicken back into its' cage, when suddenly a new voice stopped him.

"I guess your mother forgot to tell you that you shouldn't play with your food" it was the kings head of security; Rob, he had his arms folded over his chest and had a disapproving look on his face.

The man let out a sigh "What the hell do you want?" he asked as he turned to look at him, still holding the chicken who was trying to get out of his grip.

Rob then gave a small bow and began to explain "I'm just here to inform you that King Igneel is on his way here, so you'd better use this time to think up a good excuse as to why you weren't at the presentation this morning" he said as he crossed his arms over his chest and raised a brow at him.

Just then, the chicken managed to get out of the mans hand and started making its way outside, the man had just then realized that the door from the kitchen to the backyard was open, and the chicken had made its way out.

"Now look at what you did Rob, you made my lunch escape" he said in a fake sulky tone.

"Ha, if I were you, I'd escape too before the King gets here, he's as mad as he gets when his supper is late" said Rob with slight humour in his voice, he did not like this man at all, and just wanted to leave.

"Is that so, ha! It gets me all fired up just thinking about it! Hey old man, wanna be a test dummy for my flames?" he asked as he raised his hand getting ready to ignite it.

Rob then unsheathed his sword and took a ready stance; if this man wanted to start a fight, he wasn't sure he'd last long.

"Now Acnologia, don't push your luck. We both know that your flames are still unstable" he said as he began to slowly back away.

"Hahahahaha! Unstable you say?! Why don't we test it?" said Acnologia as he lit up his hand. Black flames engulfed his arm and were steadily increasing in size.

"Acnologia!"

"Hmmm?" he turned to the person who called him and saw Igneel coming up behind Rob.

"Put those flames out now" said Igneel with a scowl on his face.

"Phew, good timing Sire" said Rob as he let out a sigh of relief and put his sword back in its' sheath.

Acnologia put out his flames as Igneel made his way towards him, and had a sly smirk on his face.

"Well, well, if it isn't my big brother, coming down from his luxurious home to mingle with the common-folk" he said in a sarcastic tone as he walked around his brother.

"Grandine and I didn't see you at Natsu's presentation" said Igneel with a scowl on his face as he looked at his brother.

"Was that today?" he said feigning ignorance "Oh I feel so awful!" he then smashed his fist the kitchen table making a fist mark where he hit it. Rob just shook his head in disbelief _'Hard to believe that this is Igneels brother' _he thought.

"I guess it must have slipped my mind" said Acnologia with a smirk as he looked at the spot where he hit the table.

"Ahem, well as slippery as your mind is, you are the Kings' brother and as such you should have been there first!" Rob exclaimed, a scowl now on his face.

Acnologia was now approaching Rob, his smirk slowly dissipating as he approached him.

"Well I was first, till that little pink brat was born" he said in a low growl.

Igneel stepped in front of Rob and was looking straight at his brother, with a scowl still present on his face "That 'pink brat' is my son, and your next King" he said.

"Oh my, I guess I'd better practice bowing in his presence then" said Acnologia sarcastically as he walked past Igneel and Rob to make his way to his staircase.

"Don't make an enemy of me Acnologia" warned Igneel as he watched his brother walk up the stairs.

"Oh no Igneel, perhaps you shouldn't make an enemy of me" said Acnologia as he turned to look at Igneel.

Igneel lit his fist on fire then flung a small fire-ball in Acnologias' direction, hitting his wall as a warning. Acnologia watched as the flame dissipated and then looked down the stairs at is brother, whose face held deep anger.

"Are you trying to start a fight?!" yelled Igneel

"Tut tut tut, control your temper, I wouldn't even consider fighting with you" said Acnologia, with a bored expression on his face.

Rob gave Acnologia a questioning glare "Well that's too bad, but if I may ask, why wouldn't you?" he asked, he really wanted to watch Acnologia be put in his place by Igneel.

"Well when it comes to intelligence I believe I surpass Igneel, but when it comes to raw power…" Acnologia was continuing his walk up the stairs then showed them a look of fake hurt "…I'm afraid Igneel got the better half of that deal" then he disappeared into his room.

Rob let out a sigh "Sire, how you two are related is beyond me, was he always like this?" he asked.

"Hmmm, I don't know what to do with him anymore" said Igneel while scratching the back of his head as he made his way out the front door.

"Well you could always throw him in the dungeon, hehehe" said Rob in a joking voice.

"Hahaha, Rob!" said Igneel as he made his way inside his carriage.

"I'm just giving you suggestions" he said.

"Hahahahaha!"

* * *

><p>On the outskirts of town we see a small house where a certain doctor lives, he had just returned from his visit to the kingdom and was writing about the day's events in his journal. He was in a good mood over the day's events and was reminiscing about them as he continued to write. As he began writing down the details of the Kings baby he chuckled to himself as he wrote the colour of the boys' hair.<p>

"Natsu huh? I wonder what kind of King you'll turn out to be" he said.

* * *

><p><em>Seven years later…<em>

Natsu woke up bright and early in the morning; he was so excited for the day and couldn't wait to get started. His father had decided to show him some new techniques for his fire magic, and he was too impatient to wait any longer.

Wearing a white scale-like scarf that his father had given him for his 5th birthday and a red shirt and orange pants, he ran towards his parents bedroom and kicked the doors open. His parents were still fast asleep, so he ran up to his father and tried to wake him up by jumping on him.

"Dad! Dad! Come on dad its time to start training we gotta go!" yelled Natsu

"Uuuuh, Igneel… your sons awake" groaned Grandine as she tried to pull the covers over her head.

"Before noon he's your son" said Igneel, as he tried to ignore his sons jumping.

"Dad! Come on dad!" said Natsu as he tried to jump higher, which caused him to fall of their bed and hit the floor "Ouch" he said as he rubbed his but.

He then walked up to Igneel and punched him square in the face, it didn't hurt him but it was enough to get him to open his eye's.

"You promised dad" said Natsu, he had a pout on his face and crossed his arms over his chest.

Igneel let out a sigh upon seeing his sons face, now he was regretting making that promise, but he pulled his covers off and started to get up.

"Alright already, I'm up, just quit with the pouty face ok?" said Igneel.

"Yaaaaay!" shouted Natsu, and he began running around I circles out of excitement.

Igneel just gave out a big yawn and made his way to his closet to grab some clothes, Grandine was now also awake; she went to go check on her 2 year-old adopted daughter Wendy; who was in the other room. She was left on their door-step a year ago and Grandine fell in love with her the second their eyes met, so she decided to raise the child as her own. She wasn't officially a Princess, but she was always treated like one.

* * *

><p>Igneel and Natsu were in their own private training area that was designed to withstand fire attacks. The place was newly built for the Prince, because last year while he and his father were sparring, he has accidentally burnt down the royal armies training area.<p>

"Ok Natsu are you ready?" asked Igneel as he got into a ready stance.

"You bet dad, I'm all fired up!" exclaimed Natsu with a smirk as he lit up his fist.

"Now the move I'm about to teach you is a little tricky, so you have to concentrate. First, I want you to light up both your fists with a small flame." said Igneel.

Natsu lit up both his fists and made the flames the size of his hands "How's that dad?" he asked.

"Good job kiddo, now I want you to slowly increase the size of your flames, but you have to make sure that you keep both flames at the same size, keep going until you have flames the same size as you" said Igneel.

He watched as his son was gradually increasing the size of his flames, for a kid Natsu had an insane amount of talent when it came to magic, so it was necessary for him to learn how to control his flames in order to avoid any accidents.

"Dad I'm ready" said Natsu, looking at his father excitedly.

"Good, now I want you to come up to me like your attacking an enemy, and as you get closer I want you to bring your hands together and them throw your fists towards me, this move is known as 'Fire-Dragons Brilliant Flame'!" said Igneel.

Natsu did exactly as his father said and sent his attack hurdling towards his father, Igneel didn't budge instead he took the attack on with full-force, after all fire magic had no effect on him.

Natsu stood in front of his father, waiting to hear his thoughts on his attack, his eyes filled with determination while he held his hands up.

Igneel gave his son his regular grin and patted him on the head "Great job son! That was perfect!" he said as he gave Natsu a thumbs up.

Natsu's face lit up with excitement and he wore a grin almost identical to his fathers.

"Awesome! Teach me some more dad!" said Natsu as he raised his hands in the air.

"Hahaha, are you sure? The next part is the hard stuff; my secret slayer techniques, think you can handle it?" asked Igneel in a teasing tone, a smirk on his face.

Natsu then returned Igneels smirk "Hahaha, you bet dad! I'm your son so I can handle anything!" he yelled, his eyes holding hard determination.

Igneel looked at his son with eyes filled with pride "Ha, when you put it like that I guess you are ready, ok here we go"…

* * *

><p><em>Several hours later…<em>

"_Pant… Pant, _Wow dad…_Pant…Pant…_ That was intense…_Pant…Pant_" said Natsu, now lying tired on the floor staring at the sky.

"Hahahaha, you have a lot of energy for a kid, _Pant…_ anything else you wanna learn?" said Igneel who was sitting on the floor with his legs crossed, looking at his son.

Natsu thought to himself for a moment then an idea struck him "Hey dad, would you teach me about the kingdom? Seeing as I'm gonna be King and all, I think I should know more about it right?" asked Natsu as he sat up.

Igneel just stared at his son with his eyes wide, he had never taken any interest in the kingdom before, so hearing this from his son was a bit of a shock.

"Hahaha, since when did my kid want to learn anything besides fighting?! Man he must be getting older!" exclaimed Igneel. Natsu just had a pout on his face.

"Dad! I'm being serious here!" ha yelled.

"Alright alright, agh, come with me, its time I showed you something" said Igneel as he got up and started to walk back into the castle.

Natsu followed his father up to the castles roof where you could see the entire kingdom, there was a nice cool breeze and the sun was shining high above the sky. Igneels' gaze was focused on the distance and his son soon followed his gaze.

"If you look out there Natsu you can see our kingdom, all the houses and markets that you see down there are governed by us." Explained Igneel

"Wow!" said Natsu, he didn't realize how big the kingdom was, but his gaze kept on moving towards the forest ant the border between it and the kingdom.

"Natsu, like all creatures in life our time rises and falls with the sun, and one day when the sun sets on my time here, it will rise with yours as the new king" said Igneel.

Natsu looked at his father in awe, he rarely said serious things to him so he wasn't expecting his father to treat him so grown-up. "Then this will all be mine?" he asked.

"Yup, everything" said Igneel.

Natsus' gaze again drifted towards the forest, he was so curious about it "Hey dad? What about the forest out there, is that part of the kingdom too?" he asked as he pointed toward the forest.

Igneels' gaze followed the direction of his sons finger and looked to the forest, his face had turned into a serious expression.

"That's beyond our borders, don't even think about going there Natsu" Igneel warned.

Natsu looked to his father and gave him a questioning look "Huh? But I thought a King could do whatever he wants?" asked Natsu.

"Oh Natsu, there's more to being King than getting your way all the time" said Igneel with a smile, he was heading downstairs, and wanted to show Natsu the rest of the kingdom.

"There's more!?" Natsu said in excitement as he followed his father, who chuckled at his sons' enthusiasm.

"Oh Natsu" he said.

* * *

><p>As they headed into town people bowed and greeted the King and Prince as they walked by, and Igneel nodded his head in acknowledgement as they did.<p>

"All the townspeople depend on us to keep the town running, for we maintain the source of income for the people and provide services that offer them food and money when they need it. As King; you must understand this process, and respect It." explained Igneel.

"But dad, don't we take money from the people, taxes or something?" asked Natsu as he gave his father a questioning glance.

"Haha, yes that's true Natsu, nice to see you've been paying attention, let me explain; we collect taxes in order to improve the lives of our people, by building better roads, creating better schools, and improving trade route, which in turn brings in more money for the people. And so we are all dependant on each other, the 'circle of life' if you will." said Igneel. **[A/N: See how I made up for the whole circle of life thing with modern people issues. Man that was tricky, I was struggling to find a similar reference to Mufasas' speech, but this was all I could come up with]**

"Good morning your Majesty" said a female voice, they both looked behind them and saw a small red-haired girl in armour holding a sword at her waist.

Natsu's face went pale and he hid behind his father as the girl approached _'Oh no, it's the demon girl '_thought Natsu.

"Ah good morning Erza, I see your doing well" said Igneel not noticing his sons' fear.

"Yes Sire, I just came to make sure that the Prince was behaving himself, but it seems as though that was unnecessary" she said as she saw him quivering behind the King, a smirk making its way to her face.

Igneel looked behind him and at his son and began to laugh "Hahahaha, I knew it was a good idea to put you in charge of him, it seems like only you can induce fear into him, hahaha!" Laughed Igneel, he was now clutching his sides.

"Oh I wouldn't say just me, there is at least one other person I can think of" said Erza with a knowing smirk.

"Hahahaha, your right! She is a sweetheart in general but when Natsu makes her mad she's almost as terrifying to him as you are! Hahahaha!" said Igneel.

Natsus' face was burning from anger and embarrassment, so he gathered up some courage and spoke up from behind his dad.

"The great Prince Natsu isn't afraid of anyone!" he yelled.

Erza looked at him blankly then smirked at him, causing him to flinch.

"Oh? Is that right? Then I guess you wouldn't be bothered if I told you that SHE is coming over in 20 minutes to play with you?" she asked as she looked at Natsu.

He looked at her blankly to see if she was kidding, but when he saw that she wasn't he ran off at full speed.

"Oi Natsu! Where the hell are you going!?" asked Igneel, completely dumbfounded by his sons actions.

"What do you think!? I'm gonna hide at Uncles place until I know it's safe!" he yelled back, and then disappeared around the corner.

Igneel was just confused and then looked to Erza hoping she could explain his sons behaviour.

"He still thinks she's mad at him from her last visit; he accidentally burnt some of her hair and she went crazy on him" she explained, shaking her head in disappointment.

Now Igneel understood, and he nodded his head in understanding.

"Man those two, I hope you can handle them Erza" said Igneel while scratching his head.

Erza let out a sigh "Well they are a handful at times, but its nothing I can't handle" she said while crossing her arms over her chest.

Igneel just shook his head, _'Well that's Erza for you. 11-years-old and already as mature as a young lady' _he thought.

"Well, lets head back" said Igneel, and they began walking back to the castle.

* * *

><p><strong>Who is this girl that's coming over?<strong>

**And will she kill Natsu when she see's him?**

**Hopefully all will be answered next chapter**

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><p><strong>[AN: Wanted to write more, but the chapter ended up longer than I thought it would, oh well, can anyone guess who Erza's character is suppose to be, Heehee]**


	3. Secrets and Bath time?

**CHAPTER 3: Secrets and Bath time?**

**[A/N: Thank you to all my reviewers for your words of encouragement, here's my next chapter,]**

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><p>Natsu ran all the way to his uncle's house to hide from his best friend, he loved hanging out with her and all, but when she was mad her kicks hurt like hell. So as he got to his uncles house he kicked his front door open and made his way to the study where his uncle always seemed to be.<p>

"Heya Uncle Acnologia!" he yelled as he entered the study, a grin on his face.

Acnologia groaned when he heard his nephews voice, this child had started these antics since he was 5, and Acnologia was getting annoyed. He wanted nothing to do with this kid but he just couldn't show that, he was formulating a plan and it required the assistance of the naïve little Prince.

"Hey uncle, uncle guess what, guess what" said Natsu as he ran up to his uncles desk and started jumping excitedly.

Acnologia just rolled his eyes out of irritation as he looked at his nephew "Natsu, you know I don't like playing guessing games, so just tell me what you need to say" he complained.

"Dad showed me some new techniques today! He also showed me around the kingdom, I can't believe the whole things gonna be mine one day!" said Natsu.

Acnologia kept a bored expression on his face, but on the inside he was fuming, did this kid not have a sense of hostility?

"Oh yes, hard to believe that a little kid like you's gonna rule a kingdom some day" he said in a monotonous tone, while looking down at the work on his desk.

"Yup I'm your next King!" he said in excitement while raising his hands in the air.

"Yes well forgive me for not leaping for joy and all, bad back you know" he said in annoyance that Natsu just didn't seem to pick up.

Natsu mad his way around the desk to stand next to his uncle and spread his arms over his desk "Hey uncle, when I'm the King what does that make you?" he asked.

Acnologia still kept his poker face on, despite how annoyed he was by Natsu's question "Well I guess that'd make me a monkeys uncle then" he answered seriously.

"Hahahahaha, uncle, you're such a weirdo!" laughed Natsu.

Acnologia looked at Natsu and got out of his chair to walk around "You have no idea. So Igneel showed you the whole kingdom yes?" he asked.

Natsu walked with his uncle to the couch and took a seat next to him "Yup, all of it" he exclaimed with a smile.

"Did he show you the Northern forest as well?" he asked, he was genuinely curious as to how he could turn this situation around to his advantage.

Natsus' face had turned from excited to disappointed and he had a pout on his face "No, he told me not to go there" he said sadly.

_'__Bingo' _thought Acnologia, he could use this opportunity "And he's absolutely right, that area is far too dangerous, only the toughest mages can handle it out there" he said, attempting to bait the kid.

Natsu jumped up as he heard this and looked at his uncle with slight offence on his face "But I'm a tough mage! Why, what's out there?!" he asked, curiosity on his face.

Acnologia just turned his head, pretending to keep some secret information from Natsu "I'm sorry Natsu, I simply can't tell you" his voice with mock concern.

"What!? Why not!?" yelled Natsu looking at his uncle with anger.

"Natsu Natsu, don't look at me that way, I'm only looking out for the well-being of my favourite little nephew" he said with a fake smile as he started rubbing Natsus' head.

"Whatever, I'm your only nephew" said Natsu with a small smile and his eyes scrunched together, his head was starting to hurt from his uncles rubbing.

Acnologia removed his hand from Natsus' head and stretched it behind the couch "Hahaha, all the more reason to watch out for you, I mean a dragon graveyard is no place for a kid, whoops" he said as he covered his mouth with his hand.

Natsus' eyes were wide with excitement when he heard 'Dragon Graveyard', they had gone extinct decades ago, and he always wanted to know what they looked like, so a dragon graveyard was the best place to find out.

"A Dragon Graveyard!? Awesome!" he yelled.

"Oh my, it appears I've said too much, well I suppose you would have found out eventually, with you being so clever and all" said Acnologia with mock appraisal and a sly smirk. He then pulled Natsu in for a hug, that felt more like a death-grip to Natsu "Just do me one favor Natsu, promise me you won't go to that dreadful place?" he asked with mock concern.

Natsu looked over his uncles shoulder out the window to catch a glimpse of the forest, he then looked to his uncle and gave him a small grin "No problem uncle" he said.

Acnologia just smiled slyly, Natsu was a bad liar so he knew he had taken the bait. He put Natsu down and pat his head.

"That's a good boy, now I think its time you get back home" he said as he gestured Natsu toward the door. "And remember Natsu…" Natsu turned back to look at his uncle "… It's our little secret" he said.

Natsu nodded his head and started walking back home, he knew his friend was already at his house, and he had completely forgotten that he was hiding from her, he just wanted to tell her about the graveyard, and get her to go with him to check it out.

Meanwhile Acnologia still had a sly smirk on his face and walked over to his telephone where he made a call to certain people he had recently employed.

"Hello, is this the Phantom Lord Organization? I have something I'd like taken care of" he asked, an evil grin now on his face. **[A/N: Don't worry, I've made it so Gajeel and Juvia were never in Phantom Lord, otherwise it would mess up my story]**

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Dun dun dun… finally the NaLu has arrived!]**

Natsu made his way into the palace and was looking around for his friend, who he couldn't seem to find anywhere, he then ran into his mother, who had been looking for him the whole time.

"Mom, have you seen Lucy, I can't find her anywhere!" he yelled frantically.

"Oh, Lucy's taking a quick bath, your cat jumped out and scared her when she went outside to look for you, and she fell into a mud-puddle" she told her son.

Natsu burst out laughing "Hahahaha, man she's such a weirdo! Anyway I guess I'll talk to her when she's done" he said as he started to walk past his mother.

But just then she grabbed him by his ear and started pulling him down the hallway.

"Ouch! Mom what are you doing?!" he yelled as he was being dragged.

"You're not going anywhere young man, you still haven't bathed after your training this morning and you smell like barbeque!" she said as she pulled him towards the bathroom.

"But mom!" he protested, but her iron grip was too strong for him, so he just gave up.

He entered the bathroom where Lucy was still busy taking a bath while being washed by their hand-maid; Mira.

"Mom, I don't want to take a bath with her! I'm too old for that!" complained Natsu with a feint blush on his face.

"Ooooh, a big-shot are we? Well your still a kid in by book so off you go" said Grandine as she tossed Natsu to Mira, who then got him out his clothes in the blink of an eye, then tossed him in the tub. The bathtub was huge so there was enough room for four people in it, but it was just him and Lucy.

They both had small blushes on their faces, while they were in the tub, Mira couldn't help but think that they were so cute together, and started imagining them getting married and starting a family. Natsu took this opportunity to talk to Lucy while Mira was distracted.

"Hey Luce, so how you been?" he asked, trying to break the silence.

"Oh I'm fine, your stupid cat ruined my dress though so I have to borrow one of Erzas' old ones" she said with a scowl.

"Hey! Don't blame Happy! It's your own damn fault for being a klutz!" he yelled trying to defend his little buddy.

Lucy's face was red with anger "Shut up jerk!" she yelled as she splashed water on Natsu's face. He started splashing her back.

"Ha, you'll never be a great celestial mage if your so clumsy all the time" he said as he splashed her.

Lucy puffed out her cheeks and started splashing him even more "Just you watch Dragneel, I'll become the best celestial spirit mage out there, then you'll be sorry!" she yelled.

Thus began their bathtub splash war, it lasted until Mira snapped out of her daze and saw that they were getting water everywhere. A big tick mark made its way on to her forehead and she had a dark aura around her. The kids stopped splashing each other when they saw Mira's scary face, she may have been smiling, but it was a scary-ass smile. So they kept quiet until Mira was done bathing them and they got dressed.

He was greeted by his mother in the hallway along with Lucy's mother Layla, he had an angry look on his face while Lucy had a neutral expression.

"There, I'm clean, happy now?!" he asked, Grandine just raised a brow at him, then he shrunk back down.

"My, my Natsu, you've grown since I last saw you" said Layla as she bent down to Natsu's height and patted him on the head.

Natsu wore a grin as he heard this "Thanks Mrs Heartfilia!" he exclaimed.

The Heartfilias' were Nobles in the kingdom, they were I charge of running the trade routes of the kingdom, so they were also a form of royalty.

"And Lucy you look so cute, Erzas' dress doesn't look to bad on you" she said.

Lucy blushed slightly, she was wearing a sky-blue dress, with frills on the bottom, she had no idea that Erza owned anything so girly, she always thought that she was some kind of tomboy, now she sees that she had misjudged her.

"Thanks mama" she said in a shy voice.

"Ok, lets go to my room, I need to tell you something!" yelled Natsu as he pulled Lucy by her arm.

"Owwwww! Natsu!" yelled Lucy.

Layla and Grandine exchanged looks and then began to squeal like excited teenagers.

"Eeeeeepppp! Could this be a love confession!?" they yelled simultaneously.

Natsu just rolled his eyes and continued to walk down the corridor, while Lucy had a confused look on her face.

* * *

><p>They entered Natsus' room, and he closed the door behind them.<p>

Lucy was getting a little paranoid, she had never seen him act so secretive before, and she was starting to wonder if he was going to confess to her.

He sat down on the floor with his legs crossed and his hands on his knees and gestured for Lucy to follow. She sat down in front of him on her knees and placed her hands on her lap, waiting for him to speak.

"Ok, I wanted to tell you about this really awesome place that I heard about" he said with a huge smile on his face.

Lucy just stared at him blankly, and then gave him a karate chop to the head.

"Ooouuuch! What was that for!?" He yelled as he rubbed the spot where she hit him, a small tear on the corner of his eye.

"You idiot, you didn't have to run all the way out here just to tell me about some new place you found! Geez, you had me worried for a second" she said as she let out a sigh and put her hand over her chest.

"Eh? Worried about what?" he asked with a confused look on his face.

Lucy just rolled her eyes at him "Never mind, so what's this about some awesome place that you heard about? It better not be any place dumb" she asked.

Natsu had a grin on his face "It's really awesome, you won't believe it!" he exclaimed.

"Oh? And where exactly is this 'really awesome place' if I may ask?" said a voice from the door.

It was Grandine, who was walking in with Layla behind her, they were hoping to hear a love confession from Natsu, but were left disappointed. Grandine's eyebrow was raised at the now nervous Natsu. He knew his mother would never let him go anywhere without her permission, and the outskirts of the kingdom was not a place he would get permission to go to. So he had only one option; lie.

"Um… i-its that new park at the edge of town!" he said, silently patting himself on the back for his genius lie.

"The new park!? What's so great about that place?" she asked with a scowl on her face as she stood up, they had been there before and it was actually pretty boring.

Natsu cringed when she asked him about the park, so he got up and whispered in her ear so that their parents couldn't hear "I'll show you when we get their" he said in a low voice.

Lucy looked at his face and once she saw the look in his eyes she saw that he was trying to tell her that the place he wanted to go was what she called 'Parent Blocked'.

"Oh" she answered, getting his point. She then looked to her mother with pleading eyes "Um mom, can I go with Natsu?" she asked.

"Hhhmm… what do you think Grandine?" asked Layla as she looked to her friend.

"Weeeellllll…" said Grandine as she was thinking it over with a finger on her chin.

Natsu and Lucy ran up to Grandine and gave her their best smiles and puppy dog eyes "Please!?" they asked together.

She let out a sigh, she was no match for their cute faces "It's alright with me" she said.

"Yaaaay!" they yelled together and made their way out of his room, but stopped as Grandine continued to speak.

"If…" she said "Erza goes with you" she finished, she had to make sure her son behaved while he was out.

Natsu and Lucy's eyes widened and their faces went a little pale "No! Not Erza!" they said together.

* * *

><p><strong>Will Natsu and Lucy make it to this awesome place?<strong>

**Or will Erza get in their way?**

**All will be revealed in the next chapter**

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: So was this chapter ok? Please review and let me know what you think _]**


	4. I cant wait to be King!

**CHAPTER 4: I can't wait to be King!**

Natsu and Lucy were busy walking next to each other as they made their way through the village; Erza was leading the way to the park they said they wanted to go to. Lucy had her hands behind her back and was deep in thought while Natsu had his hands behind his head as he tried to think of a way to ditch the red-haired monster, when he suddenly realized something.

"Hey Erza where's my dad? I didn't see him when I got home." He asked slight concern on his face.

Erza looked over her shoulder at the young Prince, and then turned to look forward again.

"We received word of Dark mages entering our hunting grounds, so your father headed out to deal with them" she said.

Natsu's eyes widened, he had always wanted to see his dad in action but he never let him go with him, his face then turned into a cranky pouty one "Ah man! He never lets me go with him, I'm missing all the action!" he complained.

Erza smiled a small smile and gave a small chuckle "Don't worry my prince, when you're King you can beat up those scum from breakfast till dinner" she said.

Natsu just gave out a sigh and looked up at the sky when Lucy came closer to him and started to whisper "So where are we really going?" she asked, trying to make sure Erza didn't hear.

Natsu got closer to her ear "Where going to a Dragon Graveyard" he whispered excitedly, with a grin on his face.

"What?!" she said loudly, shock in her eyes.

"Ssshhh!" said Natsu putting his finger over his lip. They both glanced at Erza, and let out a sigh of relief when they noticed that she didn't hear them.

"Don't let her find out" he whispered.

Lucy nodded her head "Ok, but how are we gonna ditch the monster?" she asked.

They continued to try and formulate a plan when Erza glanced back she noticed how close together they were and sighed while smiling. She stopped to look at the two, who had also stopped when they saw her just standing in front of them.

"Ah just look at you two, so intimate at such a young age, your mothers will be jumping for joy" she said.

Natsu and Lucy just had confused looks on their faces, mostly because they didn't know what intimate meant, then Natsu just rolled his eyes as she continued to speak.

"I mean being engaged at such a young age already, its nice to see how close you are" she finished.

"En-what now?" asked Natsu, confusion all over his face as well as Lucy's.

"Oh you know, betrothed, intended, affianced." Erza tried to explain, but their faces showed her that they were still confused.

"What the heck does that mean Erza?" asked Lucy with her eyebrow raised.

Erza then gave them a big smile "It means that when your older you two are going to be married" she said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Natsu and Lucy's eyes widened, they then looked at each other then scrunched their noses in disgust.

"Eew"

"Blech"

"I can't marry Lucy, she's my best friend" complained Natsu with his eyebrows scrunched together.

"Yeah, that's just weird Erza" agreed Lucy.

Erza just lifted her nose to the air, unwilling to hear their protests "Well sorry to disappoint you guys but you don't have a choice. This tradition has been going on for generations" , as Erza explained Natsu kept on going _blah blah blah_ when she wasn't looking which made Lucy giggle.

"Yeah well when I'm King, that traditions gonna be thrown out the window!" yelled Natsu.

Erza gave Natsu a death-glare, which caused him to pale and shiver slightly "You will do no such thing as long as I'm around" she warned.

Natsu would have usually shut up and left it at that, but Lucy was here and he didn't want to seem uncool in front of her, so he sucked up all his courage and continued to speak.

"Well in that case maybe I'll fire you" he said, grinning to himself at his new found courage. Lucy was shocked but impressed at Natsus' bravery/stupidity.

Erza then had a smug look on her face and placed her hands on her hips "Ha, only the King can do that, nice try though" she said.

Lucy then decided to speak "Well, he is the 'Future' King isn't he?" she asked with a smile on her face, while folding her arms over her chest, proud of herself for outsmarting Erza.

"Hey that's right! So you have to do what I tell you!" Natsu said with a smug look on his face.

"Not yet I don't! And with that kind of attitude your not going to make a very good King" she yelled, a scowl now on her face, but Natsu wasn't bothered, he had new determination now and wasn't going to lose it.

"I'll be a great King! Better than any other King ever!" he yelled pointing at Erza, a grin on his face.

Erza didn't like being talked back to, but unfortunately she wasn't allowed to kill the Prince for his stupidity, so all she could do was try to bring him down from his High horse "Well I don't think I've seen any King with pink hair!" she yelled.

Natsus' eye twitched and a tick mark appeared above his eyebrow, he let out a roar and a small fire erupted out of his mouth, it wasn't as big as his fathers Fire-Dragon Roar, but he thought he was getting pretty close to it.

"Ha, see! I've been working on my roar! That's pretty Kingly!" he yelled placing his hands on his hips with pride.

Erza just gave him a bored expression "That was rather small don't you think Natsu?" she asked.

Natsu was about to lose it when Lucy suddenly grabbed his scarf and pulled him away from Erza, she had just thought of a way to ditch her while they were both arguing.

"Hey Erza, isn't that a new cake shop over there?" asked Lucy while pointing behind Erza.

Erzas' eyes lit up as she turned to where Lucy was pointing, and she started walking towards it, but when she got closer she noticed that it was only a regular bread bakery. Her eyes held such disappointment and when she turned around, she realized that the Prince and Lucy had vanished.

She looked so angry that her eyes were glowing red, and her hair looked like tentacles. She raised her fist in anger and began to run in search of them "You kids are gonna pay for that!" she yelled while running.

* * *

><p>She stopped running after 5 Minutes and started looking around "I think Natsu and I need to have a little 'talk' when I find him" she said to herself as she was slamming her fist into her hand. She then saw a tuft of pink hair and ran towards it, they were fast, but Erza was faster. The crowd however, was seriously slowing her down <em>'This kid is getting out of control' <em>she thought as she saw him pulling Lucy down the street.

Natsu looked back and saw Erza slowly catching up to them, Lucy noticed too and thought of something. She stopped for a second to say something while Natsu just looked at her like she was crazy.

"Free bread down by the bakery!" she yelled, cupping her hands around her mouth to increase her volume.

As she said this all the villagers suddenly made a mad dash for the bakery that was in Erzas' direction, pulling Erza along with them _'Shit' _she thought to herself, she forgot that Lucy was a pretty smart kid, so she didn't expect this.

Natsu continued to run with Lucy until he saw a kid with blue hair on the side of the street and suddenly got an idea. He walked up to the kid and held out a 10 note Jewel in front of him. The boys eyes grew wide at seeing the money. Lucy just stared at Natsu confused, she knew that her little distraction wouldn't last long so why was he wasting their time?

"I'll give this to you if you keep that red-haired girl with the armour busy for as long as possible, got it?" said Natsu as he gave the boy the money.

The boy took it and nodded his head "You got it dude" he said while giving a thumbs up and keeping a look-out for the girl he described.

Natsu then gave the boy a grin and sped off, _'Was that a tattoo on his face?' _he thought, but then just shrugged it off as he kept pulling Lucy towards the Northern forest.

* * *

><p>They had finally ran into the forest and looked back to see if Erza had caught up to them and were relieved to not see her anywhere.<p>

"Hahahaha, awesome it worked!" said Natsu excitedly, grinning to himself.

"Hahahaha, we actually lost her!" said Lucy in disbelieve.

Natsu put his hands behind his head and puffed out his chest "I'm a genius" he said.

Lucy scowled at his statement, the whole reason the even got away from her was because she distracted her "Hey genius, it was my idea" she said with a brow raised.

"Maybe, but I got her to back off" he said turning his head away from her.

"Not without my help you didn't" she said with a pout.

"Oh yeah?" He said. He then pounced toward Lucy and tried to tackle her, but she saw this coming and dodged to the left causing him to hit the ground face-first.

"Missed me" she said as she stuck her tongue at him and started to giggle at him.

"Oh just shut up" he whined. As soon as he was sure she wasn't looking he tried to tackle her again, but Lucy saw this coming and had a trick up her sleeve.

She lifted the hem of her skirt so that her panties were visible, and as soon as Natsu saw them he blushed a deep shade of red and froze in his spot. Lucy them smirked to herself and ran towards Natsu and kicked him in the gut.

"Lucy kick!" she yelled as she hit him. What they didn't know was that they were standing on a hill, and Natsu was currently rolling down the hill in a very undignified manner.

Lucy looked down at Natsu who was sprawled out on the floor, with circles in his eyes. She wasn't worried about him, coz she had kicked him a lot worse before and he was fine then.

She then began to laugh maniacally at him "Hahahahaha, the panty distraction works everytime! Hahaha" she said from h top of the hill.

Natsu just groaned and held his stomach as he got up "Damn Lucy, that's cheating! Don't you have any shame!? Girls aren't supposed to show guys their undies!" he yelled angrily. She would always pull that trick on him when they were fighting, and he fell for it every time which was starting to annoy him.

"Oh don't give me that, when it comes to fighting you have to use whatever tools are available to give you a better chance, there is no shame when it comes to fighting!" she yelled as she slid down the hill to meet up with Natsu.

He stared at her angrily and kept rubbing his gut. Just then Lucy noticed a clearing behind Natsu where she couldn't see any trees. He noticed her looking behind him and followed her gaze, when he saw the clearing he thought that they may have found the graveyard and started grinning, so he grabbed Lucy's wrist and started walking towards it pulling Lucy along with him.

* * *

><p>They had just entered the clearing and Natsu and Lucy's eyes went wide, they could not believe what they were seeing right now.<p>

"Woah" they both said in awe. Tons and tons of dragon skeletons were laying everywhere, scattered all along the dead land, but there was one skeleton that remained perfectly together; and it was HUGE. The skull was bigger than a house and it had horns coming out of the sides, its claws and arms were extended in front of it; like it was trying to crawl away from something before it died, and its body went on for miles! The head looked like an entry to an enormous cave.

Lucy and Natsu looked at each other with excitement, both with grins on their faces. Lucy looked around but still stayed close to Natsu, she would never admit it but she was a little afraid "Its so creepy" she said in awe.

"I know… isn't it great!?" said Natsu as he looked at Lucy with a cheeky smirk.

Lucy folded her arms, but still kept a cheeky grin on her face "We could get in big trouble" she said, making more of a statement than a warning.

Natsus' grin got even wider "I know!" he said.

They both made their way towards the mouth of the big dragon "I wonder if its brains are still in there?" Lucy asked as she slowly approached.

"Well, guess we're gonna have to find out!" said Natsu as he started walking inside the mouth but was stopped by a hand squeezing his shoulder.

"You will do no such thing!"

He turned his head in fear only to be met by the death-glare of none other than Erza, _'I guess the kid couldn't hold her back for very long' _thought Natsu. He noticed that Erza had requiped into her Black Wing armor, however she only managed to equip the wings to her Heart Kreuz armor. **[A/N: Erza was still young and she still had to grow into the armor that she had collected so she only requiped the parts of the armor that she felt would help her when needed.]** _'So that explains how she got here so fast' _he thought.

"Oh crap" he said, he was gonna get it now.

"The only thing you'll have to find out is how long it'll take for you to start walking again when I'm done with you" she said, still giving him the death-glare. Natsus' face was pale and his knees were shaking as he broke out into a cold sweat, he didn't even want to imagine what Erza had in store for him.

"Now lets get out of here, were way too far out of the kingdoms border for my liking" she said as she let go of Natsu and began to cautiously look around.

Natsu just groaned in frustration "Why are you such a goody-two-shoes Erza?!" he complained.

Erza started poking his chest accusingly "That's Miss Goody-two-shoes to you! I mean really, tricking that cute boy into distracting me, have you no shame Natsu?!" she said with a slight blush on her face, "Anyway we have to get going, we could be in real danger if we're not on our guard" she said as she looked around.

Natsu just rolled his eyes at her and walked towards the dragon skull "Danger? Ha! I'm the great Natsu! I laugh in the face of Danger! Hahahaha!" he said as he put his hands on his hips.

Just then he heard many laughs coming from inside the dragon skull, and jumped behind Lucy who was being guarded by Erza.

Suddenly three people emerged from inside the dragon and began walking towards the kids. There was a girl with short dark-green hair and light-brown skin, a bald guy with light-brown skin and purple sunglasses, and a guy with black and white hair with a black line across his face. They all had scary smirks on their faces as they walked towards the children.

"Well, well, well, Boze. What do we have hear?" said the girl in a sarcastic tone as she stared at them.

"I don't know Sue. What do you think Totomaru?" the man named Boze asked sarcastically.

The man with black and white hair aka; Totomaru, just chuckled maniacally while shaking his head.

"My thoughts exactly; nothing but a bunch of trespassers!" said Boze as he approached the red-haired girl, now glaring at her.

Erzas' face stayed neutral, she wasn't afraid of these people so she could take them down easily, but they were on their territory so she wasn't so surprised by their hostility.

Lucy was hiding behind Natsu and holding on to his shirt, while he was trying to shield her from these creepy people.

"Forgive me and my friends, we didn't mean to trespass, they simply got lost, we'll be on our way now" said Erza as she motioned for them to get moving. As they turned to move away however, the girl named Sue grabbed Erzas' shoulder stopping her in her tracks and causing her to look questioningly over her shoulder.

"Hold on, I know you. Your little Miss Titania aren't you? Igneels little protector?" she said with a sly grin.

Erza pushed the girls hand off her shoulder and turned to face her "I'm actually just the Deputy Head of his security detail" she said, scowling at the girl.

She failed to notice that the other two men had now started circling around Natsu and Lucy, but did when she heard Boze talk to Natsu.

"Then I guess that makes you…" he said as he stared at Natsu.

"Future King, and Fire Mage" said Natsu, a scowl on his face, he wasn't afraid of these low-lifes, but he kept trying to shield Lucy from them coz she looked terrified. Erza then backed up to Natsu and stood back-to-back with him and Lucy, keeping an eye on these nosy people.

"We're part of the Phantom Lord Organization kid. Do you know what we do to mages who don't know their place?" she asked arrogantly as she and her friends circled the kids.

"Puh, you guys can't do anything to me" said Natsu with arrogance.

Erza turned her head to speak into Natsus' ear "Well, technically they can, we are in their territory" she corrected.

Natsu gave her a confused look and raised his eyebrow at her "But Erza, you told me that these guys were nothing but scum?" he questioned, as they continued to circle them.

"Don't provoke them you idiot!" she whisper-yelled at him.

"Who're you calling an idiot?!" asked Boze as he came up to Erza, an angry look on his face.

Erza put her hand on top of the hilt of her sword; she was only permitted to fight if it was absolutely necessary. If she could she would always choose avoiding fights rather than initiating them.

She started backing away from them with Natsu and Lucy behind her "Well if you'll excuse us, it's getting late so we'd better head home" she said as she attempted to leave, but Sue blocked their path.

"Oh, what's the hurry Titania? Why don't you stick around and play with us?" she said in a baby voice.

"Yeah, we love a good game of target practice, hahahahaha!" said Boze.

"Hey what are you talking about Boze I wanted to play a friendly game of hide and seek hahahaha!" said Sue.

"Hey guys?" said Totomaru.

"What!" they yelled together.

"They ran off while you were talking" he said as he pointed in the direction of the running children with a blank look on his face.

Sue and Boze glanced at each other then gave an evil smirk

"Looks like they want to play tag Boze" said Sue as she began to gather magical energy.

"Sounds like fun to me" said Boze as he began to chuckle evilly.

* * *

><p><strong>What are these people after?<strong>

**Will Natsu, Lucy and Erza get away?**

**Till next chapter.**

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Ok, so I couldn't sleep so I just had to post a new chapter and I think it turned out pretty good. Hope that little hint of Jerza excited you a bit, hehe. And how's Lucy, 7 years old and already using her feminine whiles to beat the boys. Hope you enjoyed it :D] **


	5. I will always be there to guide you

**CHAPTER 5: I will always be there to guide you**

They ran as fast as they could, the second they were distracted Erza grabbed Natsu and Lucy's hands and pulled them deeper into the graveyard. It was their only exit at the time, so she had no choice but to go further in. She told then to run ahead of her and silenced Natsus' protests about how 'he could take 'em on' and how 'kings never run away!' by pointing out that he had to protect Lucy.

After a few seconds of running Erza could hear their pursuers getting closer to them, so she stopped to face them and try to hold them off while the prince and Lucy escaped.

She equipped herself with her Black Wing blade and took a ready stance to prevent them from going any further.

"Stop right there!" she yelled "I shall not permit you to harm the prince or the young miss!"

Sue, Boze and Totomaru stopped in there tracks, their faces held sly grins.

"Just try and stop us" Sue said arrogantly.

Erza began her charge and tried to slash Sue, but a bunch of mirrors suddenly appeared and took her attack instead. Erza took a step back to observe what had just happened, when all of a sudden the mirrors started glowing. It happened in a flash, suddenly Erza was bombarded by what felt like swords slashing at her knocking her back a few feet.

"_Pant, Pant, _I see… _Pant, Pant_, so you use mirror magic right? _Pant…Pant_" said Erza.

"Hahaha, very good kid, you're tougher than I thought you'd be, but sadly you're not the one we're after, Boze! Send her flying!" said Sue.

_'__What did she mean by that? So them being here wasn't a coincidence?" _thought Erza.

"My pleasure Sue, Howl!" said Boze as he suddenly let a barrage of sound escape from his mouth and aimed it directly at Erza.

She wasn't expecting the attack and it hit her directly, causing her to fly in the air and land on the ground a few feet back. She was disorientated from Boze's sound attack, but she could see the dark mages chase after Natsu and Lucy.

_'__This is bad, I must get help!' _thought Erza, she got up and requiped into her Flight armor, [A/N: well she could only wear the cat ears and the shoes at the time] and ran toward the East forest to get help. **[A/N: Ok, so I don't want to get chewed out for this so let me explain; Erza is still a kid and these dark mages are adults, and Erza doesn't have insanely crazy strength yet, so that's why she got beaten. Secondly; she understands that she can't take on 3 mages by herself when she can't even do a full-armor requip yet, so she did the RESPONSIBLE thing and went to get help, I hope that's a reasonable explanation]**

* * *

><p>Meanwhile Natsu and Lucy were running to try and get away, until Lucy tripped and fell on a dragon bone, causing Natsu to stop running. They were both panting heavily.<p>

"_Pant, Pant _d-did we lose them? _Pant, Pant_" asked Lucy as she tried to get up.

"It looks like it. Hey where the hell did Erza go!?" yelled Natsu as he only now noticed that their red-haired friend had gone missing. Lucy and Natsu were frantically looking around in the hopes of finding her, when Sue and Totomaru came into view.

Natsus' eyes lit up with rage and he ignited his fist "What the hell did you do to Erza!?" he yelled.

Totomaru waved his hand, then suddenly Natsus' flame went away, leaving him shocked and confused when he saw no fire on his fist anymore. No matter how many times he tried to re-ignite it, the flame would always suddenly disappear.

"I can control fire boy, in other words your magic is useless against us" said Totomaru.

Natsu backed away slightly, he had never been in a situation where he couldn't use his magic and didn't know what to do. He was suddenly brought back to reality when he felt something tug at the back of his scarf.

Lucy was shaking from fear and holding on to Natsu's scarf for comfort. Seeing this he put on a serious face and grabbed Lucy's hand and continued to run.

They kept going until Bozes' figure came into view in front of them, Lucy let out a scream while Natsu pulled her to another direction.

The three dark mages laughing hysterically at their frightened prey while chasing them.

Natsu saw a steep hill of dragon bones which was their only way out at the moment so he gestured to Lucy to climb up with him, to which she followed.

They were halfway up when Natsu heard Lucy scream, he looked down at her and noticed that she was slipping and the dark mages were closing in on her.

"Natsu!" yelled Lucy in panic.

Driven purely by his instincts, Natsu slid down the hill to get to Lucy. He saw Sue almost grab her leg as she was struggling to climb up, anger flowed through him and he quickly lit his fist on fire as he punched Sue in the face, leaving a scar where he burned her.

He then pulled Lucy up with him and they continued to run.

Sue placed her hand on the spot where Natsu had burned her and let out a low growl "Ok kid, no more fun and games" she said in a deathly voice.

* * *

><p>They had finally reached the top of the bone-hill and further ahead they saw a cave, they had no choice but to run into it.<p>

They kept running and running until to their dismay they saw the end of the cave; the wall was too steep for them to climb up and turning back wasn't an option.

Natsu tried to lift Lucy up to the ledge at the end of the cave but she was too short to reach it.

Natsu lost his footing and Lucy fell on top of him, letting out a small scream.

As they picked themselves up Natsu saw the dark mages approaching them, each with a look of anger on their faces.

"Well, well, looks like they can't run any further boys" said Sue, he voice filled with malice as well as a malicious grin.

Natsu stood in front of Lucy and shielded her with his arm, he had to think of something quick.

Panicked, Natsu did the only thing he could think of at the moment "Fire-Dragon Roar!" he yelled.

The flames were small, but just to be safe Totomaru dispelled them, laughing as he did so.

"Is that the best you can do little prince? Why don't you try again?" he said as he chuckled at Natsus' weak attempts at hurting them.

Natsu was about to try and release another roar, when he suddenly heard one from behind the dark mages, his face riddled with shock.

The dark mages looked at each other in shock wondering whose roar that was when they were suddenly dowsed with incredibly red hot flames.

Natsu then saw his father Igneel attacking the dark mages like they were nothing, Totomaru was too fear stricken to even think about fighting back the fearsome flames.

Erza had run inside just after Igneel did and ran up to the frightened children, she was tired from her excessive use of her Light-speed armor but she kept up her tough face for the kids.

Igneel had the dark mages crouching together in fear, they kept on begging for mercy from him but were silenced when Igneel spoke.

"Be still!" he yelled, Natsu had never seen his dad like this before, it was almost as if his dad had transformed into a dragon himself.

"If you dare to lay a hand on my son again" said Igneel in a low growl, flames leaving his mouth as he spoke.

"W-w-w-we d-d-didn't know t-t-that he w-w-was your son Sire" said Sue as she tried to lie her way away from his terrifying form.

"Y-y-yes i-i-its t-t-true" said Boze too afraid to look up.

Igneel let out a low growl and they looked to the exit of the cave and made a mad dash for it.

Erza was getting ready to run after them but the Kings low voice made her stop dead "Leave them" he said, Erza hung her head down in anger and kept silent.

Natsu walked up to his dad with Lucy following slowly behind him "Dad I-" "-You just refuse to listen to me don't you?" asked Igneel, disappointment evident in his voice as he looked at his son with a scowl on his face.

Natsu felt guilt rush through him as he saw his dads face "Dad, I-I'm sorry" he said, trying to earn his dads forgiveness.

Igneel just turned to look forward and started walking "Lets go home" he said in a commanding voice.

Erza followed behind the King, leaving the kids to walk by themselves.

Natsu was walking with his fists balled tight as he held a guilty look in his eyes. Lucy saw his face and felt so sad for him. She grabbed his hand causing him to unclench his fist and she intertwined their fingers, Natsu glanced at her as she looked forward with a sad smile on her face, she whispered something that only he could here "I thought you were pretty brave back there" she said as she looked to the ground.

Natsu gave her a sad smile and squeezed her hand, his silent way of saying thanks.

* * *

><p>However unbeknownst to them; a man had seen all the events that had occurred and was not happy with the outcome.<p>

* * *

><p>By the time the King and the children had made it to the castle, it was already dark out, the stars present in the sky.<p>

Igneel had walked them back the whole way without uttering a word. Lucy kept glancing at Natsu worriedly but never spoke, Erza did the same.

"Erza!" said Igneel as he ushered Erza to speak with him.

They had just entered Natsus' specialised training field, Igneel was standing in the middle of the field while the kids were further back.

Erza had a slightly fearful gaze as she approached the King "Yes Sire?" she asked.

Igneel looked at Lucy as he spoke "I want you to take Lucy to her mother, I need to have a few words with my son" he said, a scowl still present on his face.

Natsu stiffened at his fathers words and Lucy gave his hand one last squeeze as Erza approached her.

"Come on Lucy, Natsu…" she said as she turned her head to him, a sympathetic look on her face as she sighed "…good luck" and she started walking beside Lucy; who gave him one last glance before she continued down the hallway.

Natsu watched her leave until he was brought back to reality by his fathers voice "Natsu!" Igneel had his back turned to his son and his arms crossed over his chest.

Natsu cringed at his fathers voice and turned to walk towards his intimidating figure with his head hung down.

As he walked along the field he looked to all the singes and burn marks they had made and noticed how much bigger his dads ones were when in comparison to his own. He felt so small and weak compared to his dad, and realized that he still has to grow much more.

He continued to walk to where his father stood until he was standing right next to him.

Igneel closed his eyes and lowered his head "Natsu I'm really disappointed in you" he said in a stern voice.

Natsu cringed and hung his head "I know dad" he said.

"I can't believe you ran off to the exact place I told you specifically not to go! You could have been killed! And whats makes it even worse was that you could have gotten Lucy hurt!"

Natsu was trying really hard to hold back the tears he felt forming in the corners of his eyes "I-I was just trying to be tough like you" he said still staring at the ground, his voice cracking as he spoke.

"Natsu… I'm only tough when I need to be…" he said as he looked at his son with sympathy "Being tough, doesn't mean you go off looking for trouble"

"But-but you're the great Igneel! Nothing shakes you off, your never afraid of anything!" yelled Natsu looking at his father with a confused look on his face.

Igneel looked up into the sky with a solemn look in his eyes "I was scared today Natsu" he said.

Natsu looked at his father in shock "Y-you were?" he asked.

Igneel nodded his head and knelt down to make eye-contact with Natsu "I thought I was gonna lose you kiddo" he said with a sad voice as he patted Natsu on the head.

Natsu looked at his dad with a small smile on his face "I guess even the great Igneel gets scared huh?" he said, Igneel mimicked his sons smile and nodded his head in agreement.

"But you know what dad?" said Natsu in a whisper. Igneel scooted closer to his son so that he could hear his secret "What?" he asked in a whisper.

Natsu gave Igneel his signature grin as he spoke "I think those stupid Dark Mages were the biggest pansies there".

Igneel gave his son a hearty chuckle "That's coz nobody messes with your dad, come here you!" he said as he pulled Natsu in for a noogie.

"Ahhh no dad! Ok you asked for it!" said Natsu as he pried himself from his fathers grip and started chasing him around while throwing fire-balls at him, Igneel chuckling the whole time. He even slowed down on purpose so that Natsu could tackle him to the ground. They wrestled around a bit until Natsu was pinning Igneel down by sitting on his chest.

They both looked to each other with such happy faces; grinning their usual grins, Natsu was panting lightly.

"Hey dad?" he asked with a smile still on his face.

Igneel looked down to his son to hear him speak.

"We're buddies right?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"Hahaha, right" said Igneel with a smile.

"And we'll always be together right?" asked Natsu.

Igneel sat upright and held Natsu in his lap, his face unreadable "Natsu, let me tell you something that an old friend once told me… look at the stars, all the people we meet who have passed on, look down on us from those stars" he said

"Really?" he asked as he followed his fathers gaze to stare at the starry sky above.

"Yup, so whenever you feel alone just remember that those stars will always be there to guide you, and so will I" said Igneel.

"Woah, so your gonna turn into a ball of hot gas huh?" asked Natsu smirking cheeckily, chuckling at his fathers words.

Igneel just hit him on the head creating a bump "Ouch! Dad, I was just trying to lighten the mood a bit! You got all deep and stuff, it's not like you" said Natsu with a pout.

"Geez, hear I am trying to have a tender moment with my son, and he says its 'not like me', rude little brat, maybe I'll get Erza to teach you some manners?" he said with a sly smirk.

Natsu paled and started running after his father who was running off to find the red haired Demon "No dad! Anything but that!" he said as they ran and laughed down the hallways.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile in an unknown location…<p>

"Damn that little brat, this might actually become a permanent scar!" yelled Sue.

She, Totomaru and Boze had returned to their base to patch themselves up after their encounter with Igneel.

Sue was looking at herself in her mirror while Totomaru and Boze where arguing over whose fault it was that they didn't get the job done.

"If you had just finished off that little armoured brat Igneel wouldn't have shown up!" yelled Totomaru.

"Yeah well if you had done your job and killed the kid instead of toying around with him, then we wouldn't have had to worry about Igneel!" yelled Boze.

Sue was beginning to get ticked off at their pointless arguing.

"You want to start a fight baldy?!" yelled Totomaru

"Bring it on skunk-head" yelled Boze.

Sue had had enough of them and just whacked them on the back of their heads. "Would you idiots give it a rest already!" she yelled as she hit them.

"But he started it!" they both yelled and pointed to each other, Sue just face-palmed herself.

"This is why we're flat broke!" she yelled.

"Man I hate being broke!" yelled Boze.

"Yeah, well if it weren't for those damn royal mages in town we'd be running it!" she yelled.

Suddenly a new voice had entered the building "So I see when things don't go your way you whine about it to each other, and here I thought I had hired professionals".

They all looked toward the voice and saw a figure standing on top of their staircase, their faces relaxed and they began smirking, knowing full well who had arrived at their building hall.

"Acnologia…"

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Well that's the next chapter, hopefully you all liked it. That was my first time writing a battle scene, I hope it was ok. Also I thought that it would be more in Natsus character to try and crack a joke during Igneels speech. Anyway please review and tell me what you think, I'm starting university soon so I might not update as frequently, but if you guys send me a lot of reviews I'll do my best to update… wait, am I holding this story hostage for reviews? O_O]**


	6. Schemes and Lies

**CHAPTER 6: Schemes and Lies**

**[A/N: Sorry for the wait minna, I've been busy with Uni and work so I havn't had a chance to write, but here it is, chapter 6!]**

**I dedicate this chapter to IceWatermage coz you are an awesome person XD**

* * *

><p>"Oh thank God its just you Acnologia, we were afraid it was a royal" said Sue as she let out a sigh of relief.<p>

"Yeah, like Igneel" agreed Boze while taking a seat.

Acnologia had an un-amused look on his face at these statements "I see".

"Man, that guy is crazy powerful, his very name scares me out of my wits" said Sue "and his stupid green-haired son really ticked me off!".

The guys around her just sweat-dropped, this girl had serious problems when it came to identifying colour. "Um Sue, his hair was pink, not green" said Boze.

"Don't be silly Boze, his hair was clearly green, do we need to take you to an eye doctor?" said Sue.

Totomaru just chuckled to himself listening to the two of them, while Acnologia shook his head and started rubbing his temples "I'm surrounded by idiots" he said.

"Well at least we don't have to be afraid of you Acnologia, we are in your service after all" said Boze.

"Lovely" said Acnologia sarcastically.

"Oh I love that, he's not royalty but he acts so formal around us" said Sue while she sat down.

"Yeah that's true, so um… are we still gonna get paid?" asked Boze.

Acnologia sneered at them then showed off a huge wad of cash, waving it over their heads while they stared at it greedily "I don't think you really deserve this, I practically handed those brats to you on a silver platter, and you couldn't even land a scratch on them"

He threw the money towards the floor and it flew everywhere, they began to scramble to gather as much as they could for themselves.

"Well with all do respect Acnologia, they weren't exactly alone you know" said Sue while she was still scrambling for some jewels.

"Yeah, I mean its not like we can just kill of Igneel you know?" agreed Boze while picking up the last few jewel on the floor.

"Oh but that's exactly what were going to do my friends" said Acnologia with a sly smirk.

They all stopped what they were doing and looked at Acnologia questioningly.

"I'll wait for the rest of your companions to return and explain more then, for now though I wish to be left alone" said Acnologia as he went into a room upstairs.

They all looked to each other in hopes of receiving an explanation, but knew that they had no idea what their boss was thinking.

"Well whatever, as long as we get paid I don't care either way" said Sue.

The guys just nodded in agreement with her, and waited for the rest of their companions to return.

* * *

><p>After a few hours the rest of the Phantom Lord members had returned from their daily task of raiding travelling merchants and were now patiently waiting for their boss to tell them his next plan of action.<p>

Acnologia had then suddenly appeared at the top of the staircase and was slowly making his way down.

Phantom Lord was powerful, but only to a certain extent, the main reason Acnologia hired them in the first place; was because of their numbers. Say you were an incredibly powerful mage but there was only one of you, then you were faced with an incredible number of moderately powerful mages, your chances of survival would then be 50/50 for both sides.

Acnologia had an evil smirk on his face as he descended down the stairs, he couldn't wait to put his plan into action and finally receive everything he deserved.

"I know that most of you aren't the brightest mages out there, so I shall try and explain this as simply as I possibly can" he said in a commanding voice.

The mages just kept quiet, they didn't care what this guy said as long as they got paid.

"This kind of opportunity is a blessing for you dark mages and you should all be thankful that I even considered you. I am presenting you with the chance of a lifetime as we embark on a new era!" he exclaimed while walking through the sea of mages, while they whispered to each other.

Sue walked up in front of Acnologia with a confused look on her face "What exactly are you asking of us?" she said with her arms crossed.

Acnologia looked at Sue then grabbed her by the neck and picked her up, causing the rest of the mages to silence their murmuring and all that could be heard were Sue's desperate gasps for air.

"You might want to sit down and listen until your boss has finished speaking next time, understand?" said Acnologia with a sadistic look on his face. Sue's face went pale and she began sweating intensely. He then put her down and continued to speak. Sue was coughing and gasping for air while clutching her throat and crawled away from him so that she was sitting on one of the chairs.

"While I'll admit that my plan is not the most tasteful, rest assured that you shall be rewarded when I am given what is rightfully mine, so I expect you to be prepared!" he yelled.

**[A/N: Sigh, Ok I'll admit this is not my favourite scene, but I cant skip it]**

"If I may… what exactly do you want us to be prepared for?" asked Boze cautiously, he was sitting next to Sue at the moment trying to help her catch her breath.

"For the death of the King!" yelled Acnologia.

Boze, Sue and Totomaru looked to each other confused, while the rest of their comrades were whispering to each other.

"Huh? Is Lord Igneel sick or something?" asked Boze.

This of course caused all of his comrades to just face-palm themselves, leave it to Boze to be as dumb as a pile of bricks, was what everyone thought.

Acnologia just smirked and walked toward Boze and leaned down so that he was face-to-face with him.

"No you dunce, were going to kill him, and his stupid son" he said.

"But then, wouldn't that mean that Magnolia would be without a King?" asked Totomaru.

"Idiots! Of course there'll be a King!" yelled Acnologia, he then climbed on top of a table in the middle of their hall so that he was towering over everybody.

"But I thought you said that-" "-I shall be King! Stay loyal to me, and you'll never have to worry about money ever again!" said Acnologia as he interrupted Boze's question.

After hearing his announcement the entire hall burst with cheers of excitement.

Sue, Boze and Totomaru were hugging each other and cheering together "Long live the King! Long live the King!" while the rest of their comrades were discussing their excitement with each other.

"Finally, a King we can follow"

"It would be great to not have to worry about money for a change"

"Of course this can only be possible if you follow my orders and comply with the duties I give you, your rewards will be handsome, but I must emphasize that you wont so much as scratch your butts without my say-so!" yelled Acnologia as he pointed all around the hall. Acnologia was slowly releasing his black flames all over his body to show off his power to his subordinates "This is to be the coup of the century, I have planned meticulously and now I shall finally be King! Undisputed and respected by all, seen for the greatness I am. So let me ask you all this; are your fists and ambitions bared!?".

The entire hall yelled in unison "Yes our fists and ambitions are bared! Long live the King!"

Acnologia then began to laugh maniacally and the rest of the mages joined in.

* * *

><p>It was sometime during the late afternoon, Natsu was being guided into the western forests by his uncle; they weren't too deep in the forest, just in the middle of their countries hunting grounds.<p>

Acnologia was a few steps ahead of Natsu and was walking with his hands by his sides while Natsu had his hands behind his head and was looking all around.

"Come along now Natsu, your father has an awesome surprise waiting for you" said Acnologia, drawing Natsu's attention back to him, now he was starting to feel excited.

"Really!? What is it!?" asked Natsu enthusiastically

"If I told you Natsu that would defeat the purpose of the 'surprise' part wouldn't it? Oh look we're at the meeting point already" he said as they approached the clearing.

"Aw come on uncle, if you tell me I'll still act surprised!" said Natsu facing his uncle with a cheeky grin.

"Hahaha, you sure have a knack for misbehaving don't you kid?" said Acnologia with a smirk on his face as he rubbed Natsu's head.

Natsu's face fell into a frown, he wanted to know what his dad was planning, he was hoping for it to be some surprise training or maybe even a super-secret technique.

"Come on uncle, please tell!" said Natsu as he grabbed the hem of his uncles shirt.

Acnologia was beginning to get irritated with Natsu's persistence but he never let it show on his face, instead he had on an amused expression "Absolutely not, this is just between you and your father, you know the father-son sort of… thing" he said as he was waving his hand around. "Well I best go get him"

"Let me come too uncle" said Natsu as he started to follow Acnologia, but he quickly turned around to stop Natsu "No!" his face faltered a bit which surprised Natsu, but he managed to change it back to an amused one almost as fast.

"Ahahaha, no, just wait under this tree" he said as he ushered Natsu toward one of the trees on the edge of the clearing where Natsu reluctantly sat under with his cheeks puffed out.

"We wouldn't want you to end up in another mess like you did with those dark mages now would we?" he said in a slightly condescending tone.

Natsu's face turned sad "You know about that?" he asked while looking at his uncle questioningly.

Acnologia made a mock-sympathetic face at Natsu "Oh my dear Natsu, everybody knows about it" he said.

Natsu hung his head in shame and embarrassment, a slightly depressing aura surrounding him "R-really?" he asked without looking up.

Acnologia nodded his head which Natsu couldn't see "Oh yes, well luckily daddy was there to save you" he said with a smirk.

"Oh and just between us…" he said then looked around to see if anyone else would be listening and whispered into Natsu's ear "…you might want to work on that little roar of yours, hhmm?" he said in a condescending tone while nodding his head to Natsu.

Natsu looked dejected after hearing this, and just stared at the ground as his uncle walked away, but then he remembered his dads 'surprise' for him and perked up.

"Um, hey uncle, will I like my surprise?" he asked cheerfully.

Acnologia stopped in his tracks, at hearing Natsu call him his face became irritated, but quickly changed into a smirk "Natsu, it's to DIE for" he said as he looked at Natsu, then walked away, when he was far enough out of Natsu's earshot he started to laugh maniacally "All of the pawns are moving nicely" he said with an evil smile.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile a little bit away from where Natsu was waiting, a large group of bandits had been led into the forest by Sue, Totomaru and Boze, these bandits had no magical power of their own so getting them to work for Phantom was an easy task. They had asked Acnologia why they just couldn't do it themselves but he told them it would interfere with his plans and then they wouldn't get any money, so they just did what he told them.<p>

"Damn, and here I was hoping I could get another chance at finishing off that damn brat" said Totomaru.

"Shut up, don't even try it, or do you want to live off scraps for the rest of your life?" asked Sue "Just do what you were told".

"But its so unfair, why do these guys get to have all the fun, I could kill him much faster than them" said Totomaru with his hands behind his head.

Sue stopped walking and gave Totomaru a death-glare "You so much as show your face to that kid without Acnologia's permission and he'll fry us, now shut up and wait for his signal!" she said.

Just as she said that one of the tree's next to her were suddenly alight with black flames. She smirked evilly and turned to the bandits "Ok, looks like its time, remember the plan now; all at the same time and aim for the kill" she said sadistically.

The bandits nodded and walked off towards their target, ready to attack.

* * *

><p>Natsu was sitting underneath the tree his uncle left him under, his elbows were resting on his knees while his hands were holding his face, he was pouting and thinking.<p>

"My roar wasn't that small" he muttered.

He looked at the clearing as a breeze blew by _'Grrr… Natsu Dragneel does not mope! He's a man of action!' _he thought to himself. He stood up and ran a little bit into the clearing to give himself some room for what he was about to do.

"Fire Dragon Roar!" he yelled, the flame came, but it was about the size of a small campfire, a tick mark appeared above his eye. _'I have to try again, or else Lucy and Erza will never let me hear the end of it!' _he thought.

He took a deep breath and focused his mind "Fire Dragon… Roar!" this time the flames were much bigger, at least the size of a bon-fire, he smiled to himself when he saw his flames.

But he quickly went into a defensive stance when he heard footsteps approaching him, and he heard A LOT of footsteps.

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Ok, I'll end there for now, WTF with the latest chapter of FT!? Talk about a cliff-hanger, also guys don't be afraid to PM me if I take too long to upload, it will make me try even harder to finish my next chapter ;D]**


	7. Long Live the King

**CHAPTER 7: Long Live the King**

**[A/N: I wish to ask for your forgiveness for taking so long to update this chapter, I was avoiding it like the plague coz I knew it would make me sad to write it, but I put on my big girl pants and wrote it anyway, please try to enjoy]**

* * *

><p>It was all happening very fast, but thanks to Natsu's advanced hearing he was able to anticipate where his attackers were coming from. There were about 100 or so bandits heading in his way, they were running at full speed and it seemed like they were out for blood, but Natsu wasn't worried, he could handle himself against a bunch of magic-less goons.<p>

Natsu backed away further into the clearing so that he could have a full view of his attackers and to prevent himself from being cornered. When he saw the first few thugs coming out he didn't hesitate to throw the first punch.

"Fire-dragon Iron-fist!" he yelled as he threw his punch.

He looked at the guy he hit with a smirk on his face but that instantly fell when he saw that he didn't even manage to scratch the guy.

"W-w-what the heck?!" he yelled as he quickly backed away to dodge the blade that the guy swung at him.

"Hahahahaha, surprised kid!? This is anti-magic armour, your little fire attacks won't work on us!" he yelled.

Natsu's eyes went wide, he didn't even know that kind of stuff existed, the only armour he knew about were the kinds that Erza wore, but he wasn't about to let this guy make him look weak, _'I'll just have to beat em up with my bare fists!' _he thought.

He punched both his fists together and wore a smirk on his face "Bring it on ya bunch of thugs, I'm all fired up now!" he yelled as he gave them the well-known bring-it-on gesture.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, a few meters away from Natsu's position…<p>

"Is something wrong sire?" asked Erza as she was patrolling the forest with King Igneel, she noticed he was looking around and sniffing the air now.

"I'm not sure, but I don't like what I smell right now, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth" said Igneel.

Suddenly he heard a rustling of trees nearby, he recognized the scent so he didn't react, but Erza went into a defensive stance, Igneel raised his hand in front of her to know that it was fine and she hesitantly put her sword back in its sheath.

Just then Acnologia emerged, and it looked like he had been running as his face was flushed and he was panting.

"Igneel, thank God I picked up your scent nearby!" he said.

"What seems to be the problem brother?" asked Igneel, he had never seen his brother in such a panic before.

"B-bandits… in the forest… Natsu was playing out there…" he said while panting.

Immediately Igneel went into a slight panic, but he calmed down as he knew his son could take care of a few magic-less thugs.

"… They have strange armour that nullifies any magic attacks… I-I… when I saw this I ran to find you immediately… I-I don't know how long he can hold out… there were at least 100 of them…" he said.

Igneel's eyes widened, Natsu was in danger, there's no way he can win with the odds stacked this high against him like this.

"That idiot, getting into fights without thinking again!" yelled Erza.

She tried to act mad, but Igneel could see the worry in her eyes.

"Acnologia lets go!" he yelled as he ran deeper into the forest to find his son.

"Right!" he said. _'Hehehe, everything is moving splendidly, all I have to do is take care of little Miss Scarlet to ensure my plan works' _he thought.

* * *

><p>Natsu was panting heavily, his left eye was swollen and he had a few scratches on his arms and chest. <em>'Damn it! These guys are tougher than I thought they'd be' <em>he thought.

"Aaaaaaarrrrggggghhhh! I won't lose, I am the great Igneels' son!" he yelled angrily as he started charging for one of the armoured thugs.

"Just give it up kid, there's no way your tiny fists can penetrate our armour!" yelled one of the bandits.

Natsu still continued to charge and punched a guy in the ribs, surprisingly the guy felt the hit and started coughing from the blow.

"W-what the-"

"Armour tends to be weaker on the sides and around the neck, guess all those fights with Erza paid off" said Natsu with a smirk.

"You got in a lucky shot kid, but you wont be smiling for long, get em boys!" yelled the guy as he tried to recover from Natsu's punch, _'Shit, I think that kid actually broke my rib!' _he thought.

"Oh crap, I can't fight all these guys at once with no magic" said Natsu as he tried to avoid the swords being swung at him, he was doing pretty well until a guy managed to get behind him and kicked him in his back.

"Gah!" he yelled as he flung forward and his face smashed into the ground. He turned around to try and block any frontal attacks when he saw a sword swinging down at his head.

Just before it hit his head he managed to pull off a sword grab at the last second, suffice to say he and the bandit were a little surprised he managed to pull that off.

'_Guess I should thank Erza for all those drills with that bamboo sword of hers… if they didn't hurt so much anyway' _thought Natsu.

But the bandit was still pushing the sword down onto Natsu and he couldn't hold it up for much longer. He was starting to panic a little, when suddenly the man was punched by an unknown guy and flew backwards.

"How dare you try and touch my son!" the man yelled.

Natsu's face brightened and he couldn't stop the grin from forming on his face.

"Dad!" he yelled as he saw his fathers face.

"Natsu, are you alright?" Igneel asked as he picked his son up form the floor.

"Tch, as if these losers could hurt me" he answered while he rubbed the blood off his mouth as subtly as he could. Igneel saw this though.

"Sire!"

Igneel and Natsu turned to the voice and saw Erza running towards them with Acnologia slightly behind.

"Erza, help me fight these guys, Natsu I need you to go back to the palace with your uncle!" yelled Igneel.

Natsu was stubborn though, _'That's no fair, if Erza gets to fight then so do I!' _he thought.

"No way dad, I can still fight!" he yelled.

"Natsu!" yelled Igneel.

Natsu flinched at the tone of his dad's voice, he looked up to see his fathers face and noticed the serious look on his face. He had never seen his dad like that before.

"I wasn't asking, please just listen to me" he said in a low voice.

Natsu felt torn, he wanted to help his dad fight, but at the same time he knew he should listen to his father. His fists were clenched so tight that his knuckles turned white and he was gritting his teeth together.

"Go now Natsu!" yelled Igneel as he and Erza started attacking the bandits.

"Come on boy, lets get moving" said Acnologia as he grabbed Natsu's shoulder.

Natsu growled and ran off into the forest, "You better kick their asses!" he yelled as he ran off.

Igneel and Erza smiled a little, they knew that was Natsu's way of worrying about them.

"Alright Erza, you heard the brat" said Igneel with a grin.

"Yes sir!" she yelled as she continued to fight, three bandits at a time. _'They may be impervious to magical attacks, but my swords don't rely on magic' _she thought as she continued to strike them down with her double-blade attack.

Igneel was punching the bandits down because his fire-magic would be useless against their armour, but he had a few tricks up his sleeve.

"Dragon-scales!" he yelled.

In a few seconds his body was covered with red scales that served as a kind of armour for him. When a bandit started swinging his sword at him it shattered against his now scaly skin.

The bandit looked terrified and started shaking where he stood while Igneel showed off a feral grin.

"Oops, looks like your sword broke, wanna try fighting with your bare hands instead?" he asked with an animalistic glint in his eyes.

The bandit practically peed his pants as he ran away terrified.

Igneel looked over the amount of bandits still standing and noticed most of them knocked out on the floor behind Erza. He was impressed as well as a little frightened of the girl. _'No wonder Natsu is so terrified of her' _he thought.

Counting the guys Natsu managed to defeat, plus the ones he and Erza had beaten, there were roughly 30 bandits left. He was proud that Natsu managed to hold his own so long, taking out 10 armoured full-grown men without magic at such a young age was nothing if not amazing.

"Ok, now who's next?!" he asked as he turned to look at the rest of the bandits.

* * *

><p>Natsu was running through the forest, his uncle trailing behind him, he was angry and frustrated. He wanted to fight alongside his father and show him how skilled he was, but he wasn't even giving him a chance, he knew his dad was worried about him, but he could still fight.<p>

Then he suddenly stopped running, he noticed that his uncles scent had disappeared, which wasn't possible because he would at least have a feint smell of it if he was far away, and he couldn't be that far.

He started looking around frantically for any sign of his uncle, and he thought that maybe his uncle had gone back to help his dad fight.

"Grrrr, I can't take it anymore! I'm fighting whether he wants me to or not!" he yelled.

He started running back to where his father and Erza were fighting, burning with the need for a fight.

But somewhere in the shadows a dark figure was smirking evilly.

'_Perfect…'_

Igneel and Erza had managed to cut down their numbers to just 15 men, but they were getting fatigued; Erza had used up a lot of magical energy summoning her swords but was still fighting with all her might.

"Just a few mo-" Erza's speech was halted when she was suddenly knocked out by a blow to the back of her neck.

Igneel glanced over at Erza and saw her passed out on the floor, he didn't see who had knocked her out but he could tell that she was still alive.

He continued to fight until only 5 men were left standing, he removed his dragon scales to try and conserve some magical energy so he could no longer risk any swords hitting him directly.

"Igneel"

He turned his head slightly and saw hid brother approaching him "Acnologia, where is Natsu?!" he asked, he thought he told him to stay with Natsu and go back to the palace.

"He's just fine brother, no need to panic" he said in a cool tone "He's on his way there right now, I told him I'd come back to check on you".

Igneel let out a relieved sigh and turned his back to his brother to continue to fight the last of the bandits "Well thanks then, I could use some help with these last few guys" he said.

Suddenly a thought had struck Igneel, how had he not picked up his brothers scent, and why couldn't he smell it now when he was so close. He could however smell the scent of his son and it was getting closer.

He turned to look at his brother only to find that he was right behind him.

Suddenly he had felt something cold lodged in his chest and immense pain radiating throughout his entire body.

He looked down at his chest and saw a small blade sticking inside it, following the blade to the hilt he saw the hands that were holding the blade and looked up to find its face.

"Ac…nolo…gia …what…" he couldn't speak anymore as he started coughing up blood; he grabbed onto his brothers hand and tried to pry the blade from his chest.

Acnologia leaned into his brother and started to whisper something into his ear "Long live the King…" he said, and he pulled the blade out, letting Igneel fall on his knees to the floor.

Igneel clutched at the hole in his chest, he was bleeding out and wouldn't be able to stop it, trying to burn the wound so close to his heart would kill him instantly, and he didn't have the energy to move either.

He couldn't believe what had just happened; his own brother had stabbed him, why? Would he try to do the same to Natsu or Erza? He tried to get up but he could no longer feel his legs, his vision was slowly blurring, he fell onto the ground, realizing he was breathing his last breaths.

The last thing he thought before he fell into eternal sleep; was that he hoped his son was safe, then everything went dark.

* * *

><p>Natsu smelt blood, lots of it, but when he recognized the scent that went with it he started running even faster, <em>'No way. No way, dad's fine, it's probably just a scratch'<em> he thought as he ran back to his father.

He saw the open field where the bandits had attacked him and started running even faster.

He scanned over the lumps of people passed out on the floor and tried to narrow his senses onto his dads' scent.

"Dad!" he yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth to make his voice louder.

He heard movement to his left and turned his head quickly, almost giving himself whiplash "Dad?"

But it was just a bandit rustling in his unconscious state leaving him disappointed.

But then he suddenly noticed a bunch of red hair on the ground, and his fathers' scent was in that direction.

He swallowed the lump in his throat and started walking towards the red hair, his dads' scent getting stronger as he got closer, but it was accompanied by the scent of fresh blood as well.

Natsu was sweating nervously, struggling to find air for his lungs, his legs felt weak but he kept on moving, he had to know if that was who he hoped it wasn't.

Natsu could now see the man completely; he was lying on the ground on his chest, eyes closed, a small trail of blood coming from the mans lips.

He looked like he was sleeping, but Natsu could tell that the man could no longer breath.

He felt tears forming at the corners of his eyes, he couldn't breath at all.

He walked right up to the man on the ground and fell to his knees in front of the mans face.

"Dad?" he said softly, _'He's probably just tired from all the fighting just now and taking a nap…' _he thought _'We better get home, or else mom will yell at us again'_.

"Dad… come on you better get up…" he said as he started shaking his fathers shoulders softly, noticing that his dad didn't even flinch.

Tears started falling slowly down Natsu's cheeks as he continued to try and wake his father.

"Come on dad… moms' gonna flip… we gotta… go home" his voice started cracking and he tried to suppress his tears as much as he possibly could.

He couldn't see his dad flinch like he usually would have at the mention of his mother being angry, _'Maybe dad got sick or sumthin while fighting, I need to call somebody…' _he thought, trying desperately to stay positive.

He got up from where he was sitting and started looking around frantically for any sign of help.

"Hey… somebody help!" he yelled, he heard no response.

"Please, anybody!" he was clenching his fists in frustration, why wasn't he being heard.

"Help him… please…" he could no longer hold back his tears when he finally realized that there was no help coming for them.

He turned to look at his father's body, the man he would always go to when he was happy or sad, the man who would yell at him whenever he did something stupid, the man who trained him in magic for hours in a day… and the man he deeply cared about.

He walked slowly towards his father, feeling so helpless and alone. He fell to his knees by his father's side, and hugged his body tight, praying for the warmth he used to feel from him to come back.

He didn't make a sound except for a few sniffles. He didn't know what to do, all he could do was hold onto his father and cry for his missing warmth.

"Natsu…"

He turned his head slowly to look at whoever had called him, and saw his uncle standing behind him with a disappointed look on his face and his hands behind his back "… what have you done?" he asked in a low voice.

Natsu couldn't think, was it his fault, did his practicing lure those bandits towards him, did he provoke them to attack him?

"T-the bandits… a-and so many… he… he tr-tried to s-save me… i-it was an accident… I d-didn't th-think this would happen…" he tried to say while sniffling.

He got up slowly and trudged toward his uncle, seeking any form of comfort he could find.

"Of course, you never meant to hurt anyone, no-one really wants these things to happen…" he said as he pulled Natsu in for a hug.

Natsu wrapped his arms around his uncle and pulled on his jacket while crying into it.

"… but the King is dead…" Natsu's eyes flew open in realization and he looked up at his uncle "… and if it weren't for you he would still be alive."

Natsu looked at the floor, _'He's right, if I had just kept quiet and sat still, the bandits wouldn't have come, he wouldn't have needed to save me, he'd still be alive, its all my fault' _he thought.

**[A/N: ok can I just say that a guy has to be a really sick bastard to say this kind of thing to a child, ok that's my rant, continue]**

"Oh my, what would your mother have to say about this?" he said in a nervous tone.

Natsu cringed, he could already imagine his mother crying her eyes out, how would she look at him when she found out that it was his fault…how would Lucy react, and the rest of the Kingdom? His tears still continued to fall, but they were lessening slightly.

"What can I do?" he asked helplessly, looking to his uncle for any sign of help.

"Run away Natsu"

Natsu backed away from his uncle and looked at his full form, he could see the seriousness in his eyes, and he turned to look at his fathers' body and then looked back to his uncle.

"Run away and never return" he said in a voice coated in fake worry.

Natsu took one last look at his father before dashing off into the deeper forest, running as far away from the Kingdom as he could.

* * *

><p>Acnologia watched Natsu run <em>'If only those damn bandits managed to kill you, but my stupid brother managed to defeat them all, along with young Scarlet' <em>he thought.

Suddenly three figures appeared behind him, each with their own sadistic grin, they remembered what Acnologia said they could do if the bandits failed to kill Natsu.

Acnologia folded his arms across his chest and looked at Natsu's fleeting figure.

"Kill him"

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: OMFG, I was avoiding this chapter for the longest time, I really hated it, I cried while writing this. Anywho, please review and tell me what you think, did you like how I changed around the stampede scene, did you hate it, let me know]**


	8. Who are you?

**CHAPTER 8: Who are you?**

**[A/N: Hey guys, hope you aren't mad at me that I had Igneel killed, but I had to do it for the story to progress, anyway here's the next chapter and… ooh whats this? Are those some new characters I see? ;3]**

* * *

><p>Natsu ran. He was running like his life depended on it, he couldn't live with what he had done.<p>

Faces were passing through his mind as he ran, he saw his mother; her smile her angry face and her happy face, then he imagined the look on her face when she found out that he had killed his dad, just the thought made him want to crawl into a hole and die, he couldn't even put into words the look on her face.

The look on the faces of the servants in his house, the people of the kingdom, the look on his best friends face… Lucy, her face would probably devastate him. Not to mention how his newly adopted sister would act around him.

All these images pushed him to run faster, to get as far away from the kingdom as he could.

'_I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry… I didn't mean to' _he thought.

He could no longer shed any tears, he had to suck it up or else he wouldn't be able to run properly.

"Hehehehe, look who we found~~" he heard a woman say.

Natsu stopped running and looked around; he was deep inside the outer forest now, far away from his kingdoms boarders, as he turned around he saw three silhouettes approaching him. As they got closer Natsu started to recognize their scents, and eventually he could see their faces _'Shit, it's those dark mages, I gotta run faster' _he thought.

He wasn't in the mood for a fight nor did he have the energy for one, and he wasn't stupid, he knew that even if he could fight he wouldn't be able to take them down, especially with that fire wizard there.

He turned back around and started running again, there was no way he was going to let himself get caught by those thugs, they would definitely try to kill him now.

"Don't think I'll let you get away so easily, you ruined my face you little brat!" he heard the woman yell.

He could hear them running after him, and they were slowly catching up. He kept zipping passed trees and ducking under branches. He didn't know anything about the terrain so he was running blind, with only his nose and hearing to guide him.

He was so busy looking forward that he didn't notice that he was about to run down a steep hill, he lost his footing and started rolling down the hill, his face was getting scratched as he rolled down.

Once he reached the bottom he took a deep breath and tried to focus his vision, that fall had knocked the wind out of him. He slowly got up and tried to steady himself.

"There he is! Boze fire a sound wave at him quick!" yelled the woman as she pointed at Natsu.

By a small miracle he managed to dodge the attack and continued to run ahead, his pursuers following and gradually catching up.

Suddenly his ears picked up the sound of rushing water, then he remembered something his father told him.

"_One day when you're older I'll take you outside the boarder; if you go deep enough into the forest you'll see a huge waterfall! I wanted to dive down and check out the bottom but little Miss Scarlet wouldn't let me" _

He would have smiled at the memory, remembering his fathers puffed out cheeks, like a kid who got scolded, but right now he was focused on finding a way to stay alive.

He ran in the direction of the rushing water, hoping it wasn't too far away.

"Sue, I think he's headed for the falls!" yelled one of the guys who were chasing him.

"Ha, we've got him now boys!" yelled Sue.

He slowed down when he could no longer see anymore trees, instead all he could see was a huge lake and a cliff with water gushing under it.

'_Dad wasn't kidding, it's a pretty big waterfall…' _he thought as he looked down the cliff, he was almost at its edge when he heard the rustling of leaves behind him, he turned his head and saw the three wizards who had been chasing after him, they were a little out of breath but their evil smirks were very evident on their faces.

"You got nowhere to run now little prince" said Sue smugly.

"Finally I get to beat the life outta you" said Boze as he slammed his fist into his palm.

Totomaru was just standing there and staring at Natsu maliciously.

Natsu didn't even bother turning fully to face them, he refused to let dark mages kill him, he had already decided what he was going to do when he started running for the falls.

He started to inch closer to the edge of the cliff taking in more of the view of the waterfall, suffice to say it did not look safe in the slightest.

'_No wonder Erza never let dad jump… it looks like the water will rip you to shreds, and I cant even see the bottom' _he thought.

But he refused to back down now, he couldn't back down now.

"Kid… just what the hell ya think your doin?" said Sue, she noticed he was getting dangerously close to the edge of the cliff, her eyes widened in realization.

'_Holy shit, is this kid actually gonna jump!?' _she thought.

"Guys grab him quick, he's gonna jump!" she yelled, she wasn't about to let her prey get away from her like this, not before she got her revenge.

Totomaru and Boze ran for Natsu and tried to grab him, but they were 1 second too late.

Natsu closed his eyes and made the leap over the edge of the cliff and started to fall.

Sue, Boze and Totomaru paled while their mouths hung open, they were gonna be in deep shit if they let the kid get away.

They ran to the edge of the cliff to look down the bottom, trying to see if they could catch a glimpse of him somewhere at the bottom.

Boze saw red in the river down below, the princes shirt, he pointed at the blob he saw to get his friends attention.

"There he is!" he said.

Sue saw the red and looked a little closer and could make out the rest of the body.

"Well don't just stand here, jump on down and get him!" she yelled as she pointed down below.

Boze and Tototmaru paled and stepped back "Are you nuts, we don't want to die, besides he looks half-dead already!" yelled Totomaru, he had no interest n dying anytime soon.

"Yeah he's as good as dead out there anyway!" yelled Boze.

Sue punched them both on the head, she was seething with rage.

"You idiots! If Acnologia knew we let him get away he'll kill us, or find a way to do something even worse!" she yelled.

"So we just tell him we got the kid and dumped the body somewhere, he won't ask any questions then!" yelled Boze as he held the spot on his head where Sue had hit him.

"And besides if he ever tries to show his face around here again we'll just kill him then" said Totomaru.

Sue didn't want to risk it, but it was their only option at the time, that or death at least.

"Fine, but if he finds out I'm totally tellin' him it was all your idea" she said as she pointed to them angrily.

Boze and Totomaru just shrugged and started dragging Sue away, until she ran to the edge of the cliff and started shouting.

"If you ever show your face in this Kingdom again we'll kill ya, ya damn brat!"

* * *

><p>It had been several hours since the news of King Igneel and Price Natsu's death had reached the citizens ears, and all the people were outside the Kingdom in mourning.<p>

Grandine felt broken, her husband and son were always reckless, but it had never gotten them into serious trouble. She held on tightly to her daughter Wendy; the only family she had left, even if she wasn't her real daughter she didn't care. She was in the waiting room just before the balcony along with Acnologia, Erza, and Lucy with her family.

Lucy was in her mothers arms crying her heart out and screaming that it wasn't true that they had died, her mother was crying as well for the loss of her dear friend Igneel. Lucy's father was on the brink of tears as well but refused to cry in order to remain strong for his family in their heartbreak.

Erza had tears running down her cheeks but kept a straight face, she blamed herself for not being strong enough when she was fighting, but refused to dwell on it. She found it a little too strange that the men she was fighting were so well prepared for them; like they had expected magic users to be in that part of the forest, but that wasn't the only thing she was concerned about...

_FLASHBACK…_

When she woke up she saw all the bandits either dead or unconscious and a distraught Acnologia beside the Kings body, she had immediately asked what happened and where Natsu was, he told her that one of the bandits was a mage and he saw him blast Natsu to pieces, he said that Igneel had snapped and charged at the mage and they ended up killing each other.

Erza was in shock, she screamed at the sky and kept yelling that it was her fault and that she was sorry for not being stronger.

She had carried the Kings body to the palace walking behind Acnologia feeling absolutely dead inside.

Then Acnologia said something that startled her.

"Don't fret Miss Titania, how could you have expected receiving a blow from the back, no-one will blame you" he said.

Erza's eyes widened suddenly but then quickly went back to normal _'How did he know that I got knocked out from a blow to the back, all I said was that I was taken by surprise and was rendered unconscious, just what the hell is going on here?" _she thought.

_PRESENT TIME…_

Erza glanced at Acnologia cautiously, his face was solemn, but his eyes were cold, red like blood. She would be very weary of him from now on, there was something about him that she didn't trust; he was definitely hiding something.

Acnologia took a breath and made his way to the balcony to speak to the people, offer them 'comforting words' in their time of despair.

Though his outward appearance seemed sad his inner feelings were that of pure joy and accomplishment.

Finally he will be in his rightful place as King, and he would rule the Kingdom his way.

"My fair people of the Kingdom of Magnolia, I appear to you in our time of mourning to bring news!" he yelled out to the people.

They were all holding candles in remembrance of their fallen King and prince, hoping to shed some light on their saddened hearts. Although it was dark they could see Acnologia easily.

"Igneel's death will always be heavy in our hearts, but to lose young prince Natsu who had barely even begun to live, it is a loss that will forever remain in our thoughts…"

He left a moment of silence for the people to absorb what he was saying before he continued.

"…So it is with a heavy heart that I; Acnologia, assume the throne. Fret not my people; this shall be the dawning of a new era for the people of Magnolia. I shall bring salvation in our time of need!"

The Kingdoms people looked to each other sadly, but knew that they had to be strong now, for the sake of their Kingdom.

"Hail Acnologia!" yelled the people as loud as they could through their tears.

Acnologia was ecstatic, now he could transform the Kingdom in his image, and no-one would be able to stop him.

* * *

><p>At the edge of the palace sat a drunken Makarov, watching Acnologia's speech from a distance. He held a beer mug in his hands and was drowning his thoughts.<p>

"Huu~ Igneel; my old friend, and poor Natsu… what are we gonna do now?"

He asked looking up at the sky.

He began walking home, holding his walking stick to try and balance out his dizziness from the alcohol. Once he made it there he sat at his desk and grabbed a quill to write down the days events, his vision was blurry and he tried to focus on keeping his writing legible, and trying to focus on stopping his tears that threatened to fall.

'_It is a sad day indeed, Igneel; my dear friend was slain in battle today, along with his only son; Natsu. To say that this came as a shock would be a gross understatement, the entire Kingdom is in mourning and dear Grandine's heart is broken._

_Acnologia has appeared to assume the throne; which I'm sure is quite convenient for him, there's no telling what will become of the Kingdom now._

_Though I am deeply sad over my old friends' death, Natsu's weighs heavier in my heart; the boy was only seven and quite a cheerful child, reckless at times but he had good morals, he would have had a wonderful life ahead of him. I pray that they find peace in the stars, and watch over us…'_

Makarov closed his book and wiped his eyes clear of his tears; he found it too hard to believe that Natsu was gone.

He raised his hand in the air and tried to feel for any traces left of his magic energy…

…but much to his dismay, he couldn't find anything.

* * *

><p>"Come on ice-freak I'm starving over here, you gonna help me fish or what!?" yelled a young black-haired boy.<p>

"Don't get your panties in a bunch rivet-face I'm coming, I just gotta find my pants!" yelled another young raven-haired boy.

"Dude, how do you not know when you take off your own clothes? That's just friggen weird" said the black-haired boy.

"Oh shut up Gajeel, at least I don't eat metal like you, that's just gross!" yelled the raven-haired boy.

"Hey don't insult my diet Gray, you've never even tried it!" yelled Gajeel.

"I don't have to try it to know it's gross, its common sense!" yelled Gray.

These two young boys were walking in the forest and headed towards the lake to grab some food, though they fought a lot these boys are actually good friends and would do anything to help each other out.

"Oh yeah you wanna know what I think is gross!? Why don't ya-"

Gajeel stopped mid-sentence when he picked up a strange scent.

_*sniff* *sniff*_

"You smell something Gajeel?" asked Gray. He knew never to question his friends nose.

"Yeah, but I never smelled something like this before _*sniff* *sniff*, _smells like its comin from the lake somewhere" he said.

"Well then lets check it out, could be some tourists we could scam" said Gray with a smirk, and he started running to the lake.

Gajeel took one more whiff and started running after Gray, he couldn't place the scent but it felt very familiar to him, like he was somehow similar to whoever he smelled.

"Hey Gajeel, you better come quick!"

Gray's yelling snapped Gajeel out of his thoughts and he ran faster to catch up to Gray.

What he saw shocked him; a boy around their age with pink hair, was passed out by the bed of the lake, his clothes were torn and his body was covered in scratches.

"Holy crap this kid's hurt pretty badly, hey can you hear me? Wake up kid!" yelled Gray as he tried to wake up the boy.

"Careful Gray, you might hurt him, lets just take him back to the hide-out, we at least have some medical supplies in there for him" said Gajeel.

"Okay, help me carry him" said Gray as he picked up one arm of the boy.

"Geez, what a pain" said Gajeel as he picked up the other arm.

They began walking to their secret hide-out deep in the forest; hopefully the kid would be okay when they fixed him up.

Gray looked down at the boy worriedly, he noticed that he had a sad look on his face and started wondering where he had come from.

"Man, just who the heck are you kid?"

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Whew~ there we go next chapter finally up, I cant make this story exactly like the Lion King or else that would be too boring, but I still want to stay as close to the original script as I can while still having the characters original personalities. PLEASE LEAVE ME SOME REVIEWS, I REALLY APPRECIATE THEM :3]**


	9. New life and new friends

**CHAPTER 9: New life and new friends**

**[A/N: Hello everyone! Terribly sorry for my long hiatus from this story, I've just been so focused on my other one that I haven't found the time to write for this one. SUPER SORRY I DON'T HAVE ANY EXCUSES! _ ]**

**Please leave a review, the more I get the faster I'll write XD**

**I dedicate this chapter to **orionXD ** whose review motivated me to finish the chapter, so ya'll owe it to her that I managed to finish it XD**

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><p>"Gray grab some of those bandages would ya?" asked Gajeel as he finished applying solvent to Natsu's wounds. <em>'I can tell that some of these injuries came from the falls, but he looks like he got out of some kind of major battle, just what in the heck happened to this kid?' <em>he thought.

He also didn't fail to notice the Kingdoms baptising crest on his right arm, so he knew that he was from the Kingdom, just like he and Gray were.

"Here you go man, so what do you think's his deal?" asked Gray gesturing is head at the unconscious boy.

"Dunno, we'll have to wait till he wakes up, but from what I can tell it looks like he ran away from the Kingdom for some reason" said Gajeel while wrapping the bandages around the kid.

"Well he must've been pretty damn desperate if he jumped down the waterfall, that or stupid" said Gray while putting his hands in his pocket.

"Yeah well, in any case we can't do nuthin till he wakes up so we might as well start cooking dinner" said Gajeel as he got up and walked to his very own home-made stove; which he was very proud of, it was one of the few things he made together with his father when he was still alive.

"Oi, I aint eating anything your making! You always put screws and nails in, I cut my cheek last time I ate food made by you!" yelled Gray while pointing at Gajeel who just whistled suspiciously.

"Well I'm not eating anything your makin' coz al you eat are frozen treats, I almost got a cold thanks to you!" said Gajeel while pointing at Gray accusingly.

The boys sent glares to each other until they heard a groan coming from the boy they found. They turned their heads to look at the boy and saw that he was waking up.

They both went to stand next to the bed he was placed on and waited for him to open his eyes.

His eyes started clenching and he groaned, Gajeel and Gray leaned in closer until they were both a few inches away from his face; the suspense was killing them.

Suddenly Natsu opened his eyes only to have two boys around his age a little too close to his face for his liking.

"Aaaaahhhh, what the hell!" he yelled as he punched the strange boys in the face, he immediately regretted that action as his arms started to hurt.

"What the hell did you do that for you jerk?!" yelled Gray as he got up from the floor while holding his now swollen cheek.

"Why the hell were you so close to my face you freak, and why in the hell are you in your underwear!?" yelled Natsu while pointing at Gray.

"Gaaah!" he yelled as he started looking for his pants.

During this time Gajeel got up and punched Natsu on the head. Natsu felt like he got hit on the head with a metal pole.

"What the hell did you do that for!?" yelled Natsu as he held his sore head.

"That's what you get for punching the guys who saved your sorry butt! At least pretend to be a little bit grateful!" yelled Gajeel angrily.

"Hey! You were the ones who got all up in my face suddenly, how else was I supposed to react!?" yelled Natsu angrily, until he fully registered what Gajeel had said and suddenly became confused. "Wait, what do you mean by 'saved me'?" he asked with a raised brow.

Gajeel had a scowl on his face "We found ya passed out by the river, and you're lucky we did, you wudda died if we'd left ya there so show a little more appreciation!" he yelled.

Suddenly everything was coming back to Natsu in flashes; his father… dead, his uncle telling him to run, being chased by those mages, jumping into the falls… he passed out after he hit the water so that was all he could remember.

He hung his head in sadness and fisted the sheets that covered him, he could feel the tears forming in the corners of his eyes but he refused to let them fall, especially in front of the two boys who had apparently saved him.

What he did next shocked the two boys; once Gray had finally found his pants at least…

Natsu threw the covers off of him and tried to stand up, he managed to but he was shaking while trying to focus his balance.

"Thanks for the help, see ya" he said as he took a step forward.

"Woah woah woah, where the hell do you think you're going stupid! You won't last a day out there with those injuries, do you wanna die!?" yelled Gray; shocked at the boys stupidity.

Natsu's eye twitched in annoyance _'Who the hell does this stripper think he is; Erza? Like I'd listen to anything you'd have to say' _he thought.

"Where I'm going's got nuthin to do with you stripper, so back off" he said in a low growl.

"Hah?" said Gray, his face darkening with rage.

He knew the kid was injured but he wasn't gonna let him get away with that insult without at least getting a black eye.

"Put a sock in it, both of ya!" yelled Gajeel as he bashed their heads together in irritation; those two morons were completely ignoring him.

"Ow!" they yelled then they clutched their foreheads in pain.

"Gihi, that'll teach ya to ignore Black Steel Gajeel! The strongest mage who ever lived!" he cackled with a grin.

"Strongest mage my ass!" yelled Gray and Natsu in sync.

They glared at each other in annoyance.

"Cut that out!" they yelled again in unison, their irritation escalating.

"Stop copying me!"

"I guess it's true what they say, idiots do come in groups" said Gajeel with a smug smirk.

Natsu and Gray glared at Gajeel, and not surprisingly they both said "Then what does that make you?"

The smirk on Gajeel's face fell instantly as he realized he was outsmarted.

Natsu let out an annoyed sigh "Look, not that this wasn't 'fun' or anything, but I gotta get outta here" he said as he made his way to the door.

"Why? You in some kinda trouble or somethin'?" asked Gray while he rubbed the still sore spot on his forehead.

Natsu stilled, his back was facing the two boys so they didn't know what kind of face he was making, but they had a feeling he had it pretty rough.

"Look thanks for fixing me up and all, but I don't really wanna talk about it" he said monotonously.

"Good, I don't want your emotional baggage, we got plenty of our own" said Gajeel as he folded his arms behind his head, his face set in a scowl.

'_This kid's obviously been through some rough stuff, but it aint none of my business right? He smells kinda funny though' _thought Gajeel.

"Geez Gajeel, make him feel at home why don't ya?" said Gray sarcastically, one of the things that really annoyed him about Gajeel was his rude nature, it was a miracle they lived together for so long without one killing the other.

"What? He doesn't wanna talk about it, and I don't really care either. 'Sides it's not like anyone's gonna find us here anyway" said Gajeel with a nonchalant look.

Natsu's ears perked up suddenly "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked curiously as he turned to face the two boys.

Gajeel quirked an eyebrow at the pink-haired boy "Oh yeah, you have no idea where this place is do ya?" he said in an uncaring tone.

Natsu's eyes widened "Y-you mean that… I-I'm not in Magnolia?" he asked surprised.

Gajeel rolled his eyes at the boy's ignorance "Course not moron, does this place look like it belongs in that city?" he asked in annoyance.

It was true, the house he was in didn't actually look like your everyday house that you'd see in Magnolia, if anything it looked like some kind of small, run down cottage, and a really old one too. There was even a hole in the straw roof with a bucket placed underneath it, he assumed to collect any rain that fell through.

Natsu took a few experimental sniffs of the air… and as he figured it didn't smell like Magnolia either, it smelled like he was in a forest or something.

"Th-then where the heck am I?" he asked in disbelief and with a slight ray of hope.

"Tch, what do I look like, a person who gives a shit? Go look outside and figure it out yourself" said Gajeel in annoyance; he really wanted to know why this kid smelt so different.

Natsu scowled at the kid's rudeness but went outside anyway while muttering something under his breath that only Gajeel managed to hear.

"Stupid funny smelling pincushion"

Gajeel's eyes widened slightly _'So this kid can pick up scents too? I wonder if he's… I'll check it out later' _he thought.

Sure enough once Natsu opened the door he was suddenly blinded by the sunlight peering through. Once he had adjusted his eyesight his eyes widened and his jaw went slack with awe.

He was in some kind of jungle paradise, clear blue skies could be seen through the branches of the tall trees surrounding the area, strange animals that he'd never seen before were wondering around, some alone and some in groups, some big in size and others small. All with the most intricate colours he'd ever seen.

In the distance through the clearing he could make out the image of a waterfall, but this one seemed at least half the size of the one he jumped from, he reminded himself that he would never ever think of jumping off of there again.

So did that mean that he was actually very far from Magnolia, from his home?

He felt a sudden pang of sadness hit him in the gut… he would never see his family again, his friends… the people he would greet in the streets when he walked by. He would never run away from Erza when he misbehaved, he would never get to spend time with Lucy again… he would never… see his father's smiling face ever again…

A stray tear fell from the corner of his eye and rolled down his cheek.

Gray and Gajeel were standing behind Natsu the whole time, observing his reactions, Gray felt a strange sense of sympathy for the boy, and while Gajeel felt that he should deal with it on his own Gray seemed to think the kid could use a few words of comfort.

Gray walked next to Natsu and observed the scenery in front of him, sparing Natsu a side glance then looked back to the scenery.

"You know… I may not know what happened to you or why, and you don't have to tell me either, but I don't really see a reason why you should run away from here." He said calmly.

Natsu didn't move but he was listening to what the kid had to say.

Gray sighed, he felt like he should explain something about himself so that the kid would trust them a little.

"You know, me and Gajeel… this place is the only home we have now. We used to be Magnolian citizens when we were little but… that all changed during the raids." He said solemnly.

Natsu's eyes widened slightly, he had heard of this incident a while ago; evil mages had disguised themselves as part of the Magnolian royal army, and they then tricked the people into letting them enter their homes then killed and robbed them. Some families had mages so they were able to fight back a little, but some also had children to protect.

'_So these guys were there during the raids? What happened to em that made em have ta live out here?' _thought Natsu.

"Our families, mine and Gajeel's, told us to run away to this place and hide until they said it was safe, but… that was the last time we saw them alive" said Gray sadly.

Natsu was listening intently, feeling a sense of empathy with the boy.

"When we came back into town and saw that our parents had been killed we didn't want to live in the town anymore, knowing that our parents had died in such a way, we didn't feel like it was our home anymore… so we took what we could carry and brought it back here, away from Magnolia" he said with a determined look on his face.

'_This kid… he's just like me… these guys are also alone and they can't go back' _thought Natsu in awe.

"You can't change the past, and if something bad happens there aint much anyone can do about it anyway. The only thing we can do is move on and try to forget, this is our life now" said Gray.

Natsu felt like he really needed to hear those words; if these guys could have such a hard past and still manage to live through everyday… then maybe he could do the same?

"So like I said; I don't know what happened to you or why, but this place is very important to us so…" he scrunched up his face in discomfort.

"…I-If you really need a place to stay and feel safe… I-I guess you could stay with us, would be kinda nice to have another guy to battle with" he said shyly.

Gray looked at Natsu and raised his arm to show his fist to Natsu, a smirk on his face.

"So whaddya say pinkie? Wanna stay with us?" he asked with a grin.

Natsu kept quiet for a second, he then smirked and bumped his fist with Gray's in a friendly fist-bump.

"Sounds like fun, but my names not 'pinkie' stripper; its Natsu the fire-dragon slayer" he said with a grin.

Gray grinned right back "Alright Natsu, I'm Gray Fulbuster, and I'm an ice mage" he said.

"Hahahahaha that explains why I wanted to beat your ass the second I saw you!" laughed Natsu.

"Hahahahaha! So you're a dragon slayer huh?" asked Gray curiously.

"Yup, that's right!" said Natsu with a grin.

"Now it makes sense!" yelled Gajeel suddenly.

"Huh?" asked Gray and Natsu as they turned to look at Gajeel.

"Now I know why ya smell like that! I'm also a dragon slayer!" he said in surprise.

"Wah-Seriously!? I didn't even know there were any others!" yelled Natsu in shock and excitement.

"Gihi, I'm an iron-dragon slayer!" said Gajeel while pointing to himself with his thumb, a smug smirk on his face.

"Woah, so does that mean that you eat iron then?" asked Natsu awestruck, besides his father and his mother he had never met another dragon slayer before.

"Ugh, yeah he does, and it's really disgusting too, especially when he puts it together with regular food" complained Gray earning a scowl from Gajeel.

"And since you mentioned that you're a fire-dragon slayer I'm guessing you must eat fire then right?" asked Gray curiously.

"You got it stripper" said Natsu cheekily.

"Don't call me a stripper you pink-haired cry-baby!" yelled Gray angrily.

"Oh~ you wanna go streaker? Bring it on, I'm all fired up!" yelled Natsu as he set his fists alight and punched them together.

"Are you retarded? You're still injured, if you fight right now then-"

"-Shut up pincushion!" yelled Natsu and Gray at Gajeel.

Gajeel's eye twitched in annoyance.

"Alright then, you asked for it!" he yelled as he tackled Natsu to the ground and started beating him up, Gray soon joined the brawl, transforming it into utter chaos.

After their fight they were all bruised up, Natsu had passed out and was being carried by Gajeel like a sack of potatoes back inside the house to have his injuries fixed… again.

"You know he aint so bad" said Gajeel to Gray.

"He's got a killer right hook I'll say that much" muttered Gray as he rubbed his swollen cheek.

"Gihihi, I think we can keep him around, it'll make cooking a lot easier at least" said Gajeel jokingly.

"If by that you mean you want to use him as a walking fire pit that's fine by me, but he better not be allowed to cook anything, he looks like he could poison us without even knowing it" said Gray.

"Agreed, I don't think he's ever even cooked anything in his entire life" said Gajeel.

They went inside the house and plopped Natsu on one of the beds. They stood in silence for a while until Gray broke it.

"Wish I knew what he was running away from, I kinda feel bad for the dude" said Gray as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

Gajeel let out a tired sigh "Well if he wants to tell us then we'll listen, but until then let's just let him be. He has wounds that need healing, inside and out" he said.

"Since when have you been the mature one?" asked Gray with a look of shock at what Gajeel said.

"Oh bite me snowflake… and for crying out loud find some pants" moaned Gajeel as he noticed that Gray was, once again, only wearing his underwear.

Gray looked down and let out a sigh of annoyance "Is this going to happen to me for the rest of my life?" asked Gray, a grey cloud appeared above him.

"Probably" said Gajeel with a dead-panned expression.

Gray sighed again and shrugged his shoulders "Oh well, Hakuna Matata" he said without a care, his dark cloud suddenly disappearing.

"What?" asked Gajeel as he arched a confused eyebrow.

"Never mind, so anyway about dinner…"

* * *

><p>Natsu was sleeping on a bed, dreaming about Igneel and his life back in Magnolia. He decided that he would try to forget his old life; he would move on from his past and try to focus on his future, one where he could be happy with his new friends.<p>

**[A/N: Thanks for reading! Please don't forget to review in the little box below… I know you saw it, you cant ignore it now!] **

**XD**


	10. What Time Has Done To Us

**What Time Has Done To Us  
><strong>

**AN: I am kinda sad about this update coz this chapter was near completion when my laptop got stolen… XC**

**LONGEST CHAPTER I HAVE EVER WRITTEN! OVER 7600 WORDS! I HOPE THIS HELPS MAKE UP FOR MY ABSENCE! **

**Anyway, please enjoy… **

* * *

><p>Acnologia wasted no time taking over the Kingdom. Implementing new laws, abolishing old ones, even going so far as to release a handful of dark wizards that once tormented the Kingdom itself.<p>

But that was just the beginning.

Acnologia had given dark wizards immunity from the law, and placed them as the new palace guards and security control for the Kingdom and its people.

And in order to pay their obscenely high salaries, high tax rates were implemented on the villagers and shop owners, effectively causing the worst poverty the Kingdom has ever seen.

Those that could not pay, either ran from the Kingdom in fear, or were made an example of and sent to the palace dungeon.

The once proud Kingdom of Magnolia was now a dark shadow of its former glory. The lack of people made it look like a ghost town, the lustre and colour that it was once famous for was no longer there. It was as if the Kingdom itself had been possessed by darkness.

Any wizards who lived in the Kingdom were forced to work for the king, and give the larger portion of rewards for any jobs they did to him. They were regarded as the Kingdoms errand runners, and since the dark wizards were now the new guards and soldiers, they wasted no time using their new positions to belittle and abuse the wizards.

The only smidgen of hope left for the Kingdom were the Rebellion groups.

There were only two, one being more active and well-known, while the other remained unknown and out of sight.

The rebel group that stood out and constantly grabbed public attention, was a small group by the name of _Crime Sorcier._

No one knows who the members are, the only person known in the group is their leader, a man by the name of Jellal Fernandez.

He would constantly fight the dark wizards that tormented the people and other wizards, yell out the crimes the King has committed and encourage the people to rise up against him. But the people were too afraid, and without a living heir to inherit the throne, there would be war to determine the new ruler.

_It's been ten years since Acnologia claimed the throne, now only wizards remain in the Kingdom._

Inside the palace dungeon, the King is busy with an intense interrogation.

Prisoners in the dungeon were miserable, given as little food as possible so that they had just enough to stay alive, and no light was ever present. The sounds of a whip cracking and screams of agony made them cower together in fear.

The new prisoner that was brought in earlier that day was stripped out of her own clothes and forced into rags. Having been beaten before entering the dungeon, bruises decorated her fair skin, and the filthy dungeon floor had covered her long scarlet hair and fair skin with dirt.

"Titania, this will be a lot less painful if you tell me what you know"

It was rare for the King to be present in a prisoner interrogation, much less be the one asking the questions. He was brutal and ruthless, having no problem using torture to get the information he wants, regardless of whether the person knew anything or not. Either way if enough time passed and he got or didn't get answers, the person would be executed by hanging.

"You think this is painful? My grandfather's pinches hurt more than this" said Titania, aka Erza Scarlet with a pained smirk.

During the ten years of Acnologia's rule, Erza had grown into a beautiful and strong-willed lady. Her scarlet locks were long and vibrant, even in the darkness of the dungeon it never lost its lustre. She was known as the most powerful and terrifying soldier in the Kings army. She had a body that many men would lust over but her fearsome persona made them keep their distance, and their lives.

But now, she was chained to the walls of the palace dungeon, the chains and bars designed to drain her magic until there was almost nothing left. Blood oozed out of the places where the whip had struck her, the dirty ragged dress that she wore was torn. She was panting softly and sweating, but she would never back down, she would power through and keep standing.

She was struck again with the whip, this time it grazed her stomach, she suppressed her scream by biting the inside of her cheek.

Acnologia smirked and chuckled at her pained expression.

"You should consider yourself lucky, most traitors don't get the privilege of the dungeon before the hanging" he said confidently.

Erza lifted her head and glared at him harshly "We should have made you hang years ago then" she said angrily.

"My, I have no idea what you're referring to. Trying to change the subject to avoid punishment?" he asked with a calm expression.

Erza tried to extend her hands towards the king but the chains held her tightly.

"You murdered my King and the prince! You should pay for what you have done!" she yelled angrily.

"Oh tut tut Titania, what a horrible thing to say about your King" said Acnologia condescendingly.

Erza spat at Acnologia's feet "You are no King of mine" she growled.

He sighed and brought his hand to his face to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"The fact that you betrayed me is no surprise, I knew your loyalty to my brother went deep and that you never trusted me in the slightest. But to find out that you are in fact part of the rebellion… I always thought you would prefer to fight me alone" he said with a bored expression.

"I may be many things, but a dunce isn't one of them" she said angrily.

"Is that a confession I hear? Are you ready to tell me about your leader now? Or do you still need persuading?" he asked as he cracked the whip on the floor.

Erza never flinched, she didn't so much bat an eye at his threats.

"You can go to hell" she said with a confident smirk.

Acnologia growled angrily and unleashed a flurry of whippings on Erza, who refused to scream no matter what.

"And here I thought you weren't a dunce! Tell me about Jellal and his whereabouts or you will stay down here for the rest of your miserable existence! I will torture you bloody every day until you give in, you will be on the brink of death but I will keep you just enough alive to breathe! You will pray for death but I won't grant it until you tell me about Jellal!" he yelled in anger, his attacks never ceasing.

Erza was panting, with the amount of blood she was losing she was sure she would pass out soon.

Acnologia grabbed Erza by her collar and pulled her towards his face.

"Act tough while you can Titania, if you think my little punishment was bad, you have yet to even experience torture" he said with a smile filled with malice.

He let her go and she coughed for air. He made his way towards the stairs of the dungeon.

"Aria, I want information from her fast, use any means necessary, but don't kill her" he said as he walked out.

A figure appeared from the corner of the dungeon, dressed in a green cloak and a cloth covering his eyes that were filled with tears.

"I shall have her singing like a canary in no time your majesty" said Aria as he cried.

A scarlet bird trapped in a cage, Erza prayed she'd have the strength to hold out until her saviour arrived.

'_Jellal…'_

* * *

><p>Acnologia stomped down the hallway of his palace. He was furious, how dare that women act so high and mighty around him.<p>

"Your Majesty, we got issues man!" yelled Boze as he and his two friends ran to catch up to him.

"Clearly" he answered in annoyance, he was inches away from sending them to the dungeon he was so mad.

"Shut up Boze, let me handle this!" said Sue as she struck him across the back of his head.

"Sire, our pay is getting low, and the taxes aren't raking in as much as they used to" she complained.

"Yeah, I wanted to go out drinking, but my pay aint gonna cut it!" complained Boze.

Acnologia groaned in annoyance "It's the wizards' jobs to bring in rewards from other countries and Kingdoms" he said pinching the bridge of his nose.

"They don't wanna go! The only jobs that are left are bounty hunting ones" said Sue.

"Of course, very well, I will see if any of my personal wizards are available, if that is all then be gone" he said with a nonchalant wave of his hand as he walked towards his throne room.

"Tch, I'm starting to think things were better with Igneel" muttered Boze.

"What did you say?" growled Acnologia angrily.

There was a dark aura emanating from him, his glare was harsh and deadly, red eyes generating the fear of death to those whose eyes met them.

It was common knowledge to never mention Igneel's name in front of Acnologia, it was an act punishable by imprisonment.

Sue, Boze and Totomaru were shaking in fear.

"I-I-I said f-f-fig peel, earlier today… S-S-Sue stepped on a f-fig peel" stuttered Boze nervously.

Acnologia was not convinced, but he accomplished his goal of scaring them to submission.

"Good, now leave" he growled lowly.

They turned away from him and ran down the hallway as fast as they could.

"I'm still low on cash though" said Boze.

Sue smacked his head "Shut up if you wanna stay alive!"

"I told you this was a bad idea" said Totomaru in annoyance.

"Shut up!"

Acnologia made his way to his throne room and sat down on his throne. They said bounty hunting jobs? He had a mage he could spare for that, and she had no choice either.

* * *

><p><em>*Buuuuuuuuurp!*<em>

"Nice one Pyro"

"Thanks Stripper"

"Man that hit the spot!"

_*Sigh*_

Deep in the forests that are far from Magnolia's eyes, three young boys lie resting on the soft grass, having just enjoyed a hefty meal they relaxed and gazed upon the millions of stars that were out that night.

It's been ten years since Natsu had joined Gajeel and Gray in the forest, and during that time they have grown into tall, strong and handsome young men.

Gajeel's hair was long and unruly, reaching his hips, his right arm was decorated with scars that he had gained over the years from hunting and fighting. He had a lot more piercings now, covering his nose, arms and eyebrows. His muscles were definitely the most bulky out of the three, but still considered lean. Considering he was the eldest among the guys he considered himself their leader, even though he was the only one who thought so, and made sure that their basic needs were taken care of while having a bit of fun along the way.

Gray's personality had calmed down over the years, although he never stopped being reckless or getting into crazy fights, his many scars can attest to that. However, his stripping habit only seemed to get worse as time went on, getting to a point where he would no longer bat an eye if he ended up walking around in his underwear, the guys were just grateful he wasn't always completely naked and stopped calling him out on his missing clothes. He had definitely become a more handsome man; his dark blue hair had grown but he kept it relatively short, his body had developed well as he had considerable muscle development, and he was pretty tall as well.

Natsu's changes over the years were noteworthy to say the least. His hair hadn't changed at all, only that it had gotten slightly longer, it remained as wild as ever. He had developed a scar on his neck from his fight many years ago with the Dark Mages, but it remained concealed by his white scarf that he refused to part with, even when he took a bath. He had become tan over the years from running around in the sun all the time. His muscles and strength had grown exponentially, even though he was the youngest among the guys he was probably stronger than both of them. However, even throughout all these changes, he still kept his carefree and childish personality. Never one to pass up something fun or crazy despite his tragic past.

"Hey Bolt-face" said Gray.

"What d'ya want stripper?" asked Gajeel annoyed.

"Wadd'ya know about constellations?" asked Gray curiously.

Natsu stiffened slightly at this question, old memories began to surface, making him frown slightly.

"Hah? Don't be an idiot, like I'd waste my time trying to play connect the dots" said Gajeel in annoyance.

"Tch, so I'll take that as you have no idea what the word even means, hey numb nuts?" taunted Gray with a victorious smirk.

Gajeel growled angrily "Shut up Frosty, I know plenty! I just don't waste my time on crap like 'constellations'" he grumbled.

Natsu chuckled to himself _'If Luce were here she woulda kicked his ass for that comment' _he thought.

"Sure, so since you're so smart, why don't ya try and tell me where the constellation for Leo is then?" asked Gray with a smirk, he knew there was no way Gajeel would get this one.

Natsu raised a brow at their actions, why the sudden interest in stars anyway, it was part of a time he didn't want to revisit.

"Tch, course I know where that one is! Dumbass, its right over there!" said Gajeel while pointing up at a random spot in the sky.

Gray dead-panned "Gajeel, Leo isn't in the sky this time of year" he said with a smirk.

"Pft!" Natsu burst out laughing at Gajeel's slip up.

Gajeel sweat dropped at that. How dare Gray trick him like that!

"You bastard! You set me up!" he yelled angrily making a swipe for Gray's head but missing.

Gray was laughing just as hard as Natsu.

"Not my fault, you were the one trying to act like a smartass, I just put you in your place is all" said Gray with a chuckle.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, I'll bet Flame brain over here don't know jack shit about constellations!" accused Gajeel.

Natsu stopped laughing now, this really wasn't something he wanted to talk about.

"Well that's a given-"

"Actually I do" interrupted Natsu.

"Hah?!" yelled Gajeel and Gray in confusion.

"Well, I don't know a lot, maybe like one or two that I remember?" said Natsu thoughtfully.

"Can't believe ash-for-brains knows sumthin I don't" muttered Gajeel in disbelief.

"Well tell us Pinky!" said Gray impatiently.

Natsu scanned the stars for a moment, trying to remember the patterns and positions of the stars he knew.

"Well, if you look over that way you can see Aquarius, by connecting those dots there and there…" said Natsu while pointing at the respective stars.

"Huh… why do you know where that one is?" asked Gray curiously with a raised brow.

Natsu paled at the memory "Lets just say knowing where your enemy is can make it easier to avoid her" he said with a shudder.

'_Her? Enemy?' _thought Gray and Gajeel in confusion, they just shrugged and let it go, Natsu tended to spout nonsense on a regular basis. Paying it any mind was just a waste of time.

"Okay, so what else ya got?" asked Gray.

"I know where the dragon constellation is" said Natsu proudly.

"There's a dragon?!" yelled Gajeel in surprise.

"Yeah, you know everything don't ya?" said Gray sarcastically.

"Shut up ice chips!" said Gajeel angrily "So where is this dragon, flame-brain?" asked Gajeel curiously.

"Right over there" he said without even thinking as he pointed to a set of constellations.

"You just connect those four stars over there and that last one there, and there you have it, _draco_" said Natsu.

Gray and Gajeel's eyes were as wide as dinner plates, how could Natsu, _Natsu, _of all people, actually say something… smart!?

"I feel like I'm having some freaky ass dream right now, now way did Natsu say something smart right?" asked Gray in shock.

"I think he did, that or that fish we ate gave us all food poisoning and we're delusional" said Gajeel in disbelief.

"Hey!" yelled Natsu in offense.

"No kidding, so flame-head, wanna tell us what else you know about the stars? I'm kinda curious to see what else you know… or don't" snickered Gray.

Natsu huffed in annoyance, his so-called friends were so freaking rude it was beginning to piss him off.

A memory resurfaced when he thought about Gray's question. The only other thing he knew about the stars was…

"Well… someone once told me that, all the people in our lives who have passed on, are watching us from the stars" he said sadly.

"Huh…" said Gray in thought.

"So dead people are watching us?" asked Gajeel in confusion.

"Pft!"

Gray and Gajeel started laughing hard, Natsu gave a half-hearted chuckle at their reaction.

"What kinda crazy crap are you listening to dude?" asked Gajeel in-between laughs.

Natsu just smiled sadly.

"Seriously, what kind of nut job came up with that?!" laughed out Gajeel.

"Yeah, I guess it is pretty stupid huh?" asked Natsu with a tired chuckle.

When the laughing finally died down, Natsu took one more glance at the sky. a pained expression made its way on his face, and he got up to cool his head.

Gray and Gajeel glanced at each other, both wondering what was wrong with their fire breathing friend.

"Was it something I said?" asked Gajeel in confusion.

Gray just shrugged his shoulders, they had agreed a long time ago not to pry into Natsu's life, so they didn't know about any eggshells they should avoid when talking to him.

Natsu walked to a nearby cliff, breathing deeply to try and calm his fragile heart. All this talk of constellations had ruined their happy mood, well his anyway.

He looked up at the sky again, he couldn't explain it, but it felt like the dragon constellation was shining even brighter when he looked at it, like it was trying to speak to him.

Not wanting to deal with the conflict in his heart Natsu did the one thing he always did; he roared.

'_Roooooaaaaaaaarrrr!'_

Natsu's roar was huge and loud, fully displaying just how much his power had increased over the years, it was even bigger than Igneel's was. His flames were hot and magnificent, reaching the highest heights, and warming the cool night air.

Natsu panted when his roar ended, he felt a stray tear falling down his cheek, and rubbed it away as fast as he could.

He had a new life now, but still, why couldn't he let the old one go?

* * *

><p>"Man how I wish something interesting would happen right about now"<p>

Makarov puffed out smoke from his fancy pipe and looked to be in deep thought…

Well actually he was just bored and running low on booze, no thanks to the King, so-called.

"Crime Sorcier is becoming more active lately, not to mention Erza has been imprisoned. We'll need to act soon, but without a trump card I'm afraid we're headed for a losing battle" he muttered to himself.

Suddenly he felt a massive surge of power erupt out of nowhere, it was enormous, yet somehow familiar?

"No… it can't be…" he said in shock.

'_That felt incredibly similar to Igneel, but that's not possible… unless…' _he thought.

A lone tear fell out of the corner of his eye and fell to the ground.

"Natsu… you're alive?"

* * *

><p>The next day Gray and Gajeel were awakened by an annoyingly chipper and excessively hyper Natsu, who for some strange reason wanted to play a game of 'Hide and Seek'.<p>

Of course they refused, saying that was a game for kids and that they wanted to sleep in, but Natsu knew how to push their buttons.

"Oh I get it, you guys are scared that I'll be so great at it that you won't be able to find me right?" he baited.

Gray and Gajeel's eyes twitched, how dare he provoke them at such an early hour, it was only 11am for crying out loud!

"Oh please, knowing you I'd find you under ten minutes" said Gajeel in annoyance, he was starting to lose his patience.

"Wanna bet?" asked Natsu with a cheeky smirk.

Natsu knew he had them now, there was no way they were going to refuse if a bet was being made on it. They liked winning too much.

"Ok Flame-brain, name the stakes" said Gray with a victorious smirk, he loved the idea of getting to beat Natsu and get to give him a penalty as well.

Nastu smirked mischievously "If you guys can find me before noon I'll do whatever you say without question for a whole day" he said confidently.

Gray and Gajeel were fantasizing about what they would make Natsu do, it was definitely something embarrassing, and it would be hilarious. They smirked at each other in anticipation, they were so gonna win this thing.

"But… if you can't find me, you bastards gotta do what _I _say for a whole day, without question" said Natsu with an excited grin.

This… made the game slightly less appealing, but Gray and Gajeel would be damned if they backed out now. They would do whatever it takes to win.

"You're on Pyro!" said Gajeel with an excited grin.

"We ain't gonna let you win this no matter what!" said Gray bearing the same grin.

And so Gray and Gajeel have been running around the forest trying to find their pink haired companion for half an hour already, having no luck so far in their search.

"Why did I agree to this again?" asked Gray in annoyance, he was running around like a madman and getting nowhere, how hard could it be to find a guy with hair like cherry blossoms for crying out loud!?

"Shut up with yer whining Stripper, I'm pissed off enough as it is" grumbled Gajeel irritably.

"Can't ya sniff him out or sumthin? I mean your both dragon slayers right, so ya should have the same sense of smell!?" asked Gray annoyed, he did not want to lose, being Natsu's slave for a day would kill his pride.

"Gee, great idea, I never thought of that!" said Gajeel sarcastically, did Gray think he was an idiot?!

"Course I tried sniffing him out numb nuts, he musta covered up his scent or sumthin coz I can't get so much as a whiff of him" said Gajeel in frustration.

"Dammit! Why does he suddenly get smart at the most inconvenient times for us!?" yelled Gray angrily.

"When it comes to regular things he's an idiot, but in combat and fighting tactics he's actually pretty smart, not to mention he has almost no fear either" said Gajeel as he glanced around every area to try and spot him. He figured if he couldn't sniff the moron he'd have to rely on his sight and hearing instead.

"Ugh, hearing you say crap like that make me wanna hurl, if Natsu heard you you'd never hear the end of it" said Gray in disgust.

"Shut up, where did your energy go anyway, you were so pumped about this at the beginning?" asked Gajeel as the carried on through the forest.

Gray heaved an exasperated sigh and rubbed the back of his head self-consciously "Well… I just figured we owed the guy ya know, he was so depro yesterday I figured this would perk him up or something" he said sadly.

Gajeel sighed and rubbed his head in frustration "Yeah, well mission accomplished, he's so perked up it's like he's on a coffee high. Now quit feeling sorry for the little bastard and focus on finding him! I just know that if he gets the chance to order me around I'll never live it down, so less bitchin' and more searchin'!" yelled Gajeel angrily as he transformed his arm into a metal hammer, smashing it into a nearby tree and making it crash to the ground.

Gray blinked in surprise "Well, someone forgot to eat his iron this morning" he said jokingly.

Gajeel glared at Gray and was about to retort…

_*snap*_

Until he heard the sound of a branch snapping.

He directed his head towards the noise, trying to see if he could pick up a sound again or maybe even see what caused it.

"Oi, whats-"

"Shh!" said Gajeel effectively shushing Gray.

Gray knew better than to disturb, if Gajeel was this focused he was listening out for something, he prayed that that something was Natsu.

Kinda weird that Natsu managed to lay low so well until now though.

"I think someone got a little cocky and tried to make a run for it" said Gajeel with a sly smirk.

He figured something that made a sound that big had to be Natsu, it wasn't like there were any predators in this area anyway, he did say he saw a hyena once though.

"Huh, I'm actually surprised he managed to stay still for so long" said Gray in an impressed tone.

"Well, lets get him before he runs off!" yelled Gajeel as he charged forward to run where he heard the sound, Gray right behind him.

They were running at such high speed that they didn't bother to look at the ground they were walking on.

Suddenly Gray and Gajeel noticed that they couldn't in fact feel ANY ground beneath their feet at that moment, and when they looked down they saw that they ran right over a barely covered hole in the ground aka the old hole-in-the-ground trap.

"Wha-!"

"Shit!"

Gajeel had managed to grab the ledge of the hole in time, and avoided falling in, the same however, could not be said for Gray.

"Son of a-! Aaaah!"

He fell pretty far down, MAN HOW DEEP IS THIS HOLE?!

"ICE-MAKE; CHAINS!"

After he gathered his bearings he used his ice magic to create chains with spikes and shot them out into the walls in order to stop himself from splatting into the ground.

Gray let out a breath of relief when he stopped falling; that was almost too close.

"Oi Stripper! You still alive down there!?" yelled Gajeel as he tried to climb out of the hole but fumbled.

"Yeah! Where the hell did this big ass hole come from!? Did Natsu make it?!" asked Gray angrily as he hung from the chains.

"This aint his style, someone else musta set it up!" yelled Gajeel as he finally got a leg up and clabbered back on solid ground, letting out a relieved sigh.

"That was close" he sighed.

"Wow, that plan actually worked?"

A sudden stranger's voice knocked Gajeel immediately out of his reverie, he noticed a shadow looking over him and jumped back a few feet away from it.

"What the?" asked Gajeel in confusion, no people ever come into the forest.

"I guess since it was so simple no-one would see it coming?"

The stranger was in the light now and Gajeel could finally make out who had snuck up on him, and he choked on his spit at the sight.

A girl around the same age as him, if not younger, with a tiny waist that was visible because of her blue, white and yellow patterned crop top that stopped just below the bust. And man did she have a bust. He had never seen such a curvaceous woman before.

She donned a black mini skirt on her wide hips coupled with a brown belt, it looked as though she had keys attached to it, as well as a whip. She wore black thigh high socks and brown ankle boots.

Gajeel would be lying if he said she was unattractive, in fact she was rather beautiful, not his type per say but beautiful all the same. She had dark brown eyes that glistened with determination, her light blonde hair was tied into twin tails, and she had heart shaped earrings.

"…"

Gajeel was in a stupor. What the heck was some hot chick doing here in the first place?! And what did she mean when she said 'plan'? Did she make that hole?! And why the hell was she talking to herself?! This girl had to be mental or something!?

"Wh-Who the hell are you?!" yelled Gajeel in confusion and annoyance.

"Oi, bolt-head! What's goin' on up there!?" yelled Gray as he tried to climb up the hole he was still stuck in.

"Ah, must focus, time for phase 2" said the strange girl.

"Huh?!" said Gajeel in confusion.

Suddenly he was struck in the face out of nowhere by the girls whip, which for some reason was glowing blue and gold all of a sudden.

He felt a tick mark appear on his head, was this girl trying to piss him off?!

"Well that should do it. Catch me if you can ugly!" said the girl as she suddenly ran away from him.

'_UGLY?!' _thought Gajeel angrily.

"Okay, now I'm gonna have ta kill ya!" he yelled as he ran after her, completely forgetting about Gray.

"Oi screw-head! Where the hell are you going!? Help me outta here!" yelled Gray angrily as he heard Gajeel run off.

"Geez, that ass-hat, wait till I get back up there. He probably saw a wild animal or something" grumbled Gray in annoyance as he used grappling hooks he made from ice to climb out of the hole.

Gray finally managed to get out of that crazy hole, he panted from exhaustion and fell down on the ground to catch his breath, sweat dripping from his brow.

"Damn… metal-brain… I'll kill him…" panted Gray in a tired voice.

"My my, do you make a habit of walking around without a shirt?"

Gray's eyes snapped open and he noticed a man towering over him with a disgusted look on his face.

Gray jumped back in surprise, he was crouched on the ground and had his hands together ready for an attack.

"Who the hell are you?" he growled defensively.

The man was so out of place in the forest, everything about him stood out like a sore thumb!

He wore a fancy tailored black suit, with a white button up shirt and red tie. He wore dark blue shades, and his hair was orange and gelled up in every direction. There were even parts where his hair looked like lion ears.

The suited man huffed in annoyance "Normally when asking for a person's name, one should introduce themselves first no?" he asked with a raised brow.

Gray clenched his jaw in aggravation, what a pain in the ass guy.

"Screw off pretty boy, manners got no place here!" yelled Gray angrily.

"Tch, what an uncouth man, as my lady's loyal knight it is only natural that I teach you some manners before you're graced with her lovely presence" said the suited man as his fists suddenly started glowing with a brilliant light.

"Huh? What lady?" asked Gray in confusion.

'_Where the heck are all these weirdos coming from anyway?! And what do they want with me and Gajeel?!' _he thought angrily.

"… Um, why did you take your pants off?" asked the suited man blinking in confusion.

"Huh?"

Gray looked down and saw his pants lying on the ground next to him, leaving him in only his boxers.

"For crying out loud!" he groaned in annoyance, picking up his pants and quickly putting them on, while trying to keep his eye on the suited stranger.

"You are quite a strange person indeed" said the suited man as he pushed his glasses up.

"Says the guy wearing a suit in the middle of a forest" retorted Gray with a raised brow.

"Touché" conceded the suited man.

"Loke!?"

A new voice suddenly appeared from behind the suited man, causing both men to turn and look towards it.

Gray's jaw dropped when the person came into view; she was gorgeous!

Her figure was a perfect hour glass, her hair was a beautiful shade of gold, eyes a deep brown, and her chest… whoa

"Ah, Lucy my love, you found me!" the suited man, whose name appeared to be 'Loke' suddenly lost his cool guy façade and had turned into some weird love-struck boy with hearts in his eyes when the girl appeared.

"No time for chit chat Loke, Gemini is already busy with phase 2, we need to do our part here" said Lucy with determination.

This 'Lucy' girl gave Gray a look of seriousness and determination, that was until she glanced behind him and noticed the hole in the ground and that Gray was covered in dirt, then her look turned bewildered for a second, then cocky.

"Ha! I told you guys the trap would work!" she said with a victorious smirk directed at Loke.

"As expected of my future bride, your genius knows no bounds!" said Loke with a wink.

"I told you, I'm not marrying you Loke" she said with a hint of annoyance.

Gray sweat-dropped at the scene in front of him, had they forgotten that he was there?

"Anyway, focus on the job at hand, we don't have much time. Gemini can only keep the other guy busy for so long" said Lucy pulling out her whip and taking a battle stance.

"As you wish, my lady" said Loke as he also took a battle stance, his fists glowing once more with a brilliant light.

'_These guys wanna fight me? Ha! Bring it on, I could use a good workout' _thought Gray confidently.

"You guys wanna brawl huh? Fine by me, just don't go crying home when I whoop your asses" he said with a smirk.

"Hmph, we'll see about that" said Lucy with a confident smile "Never underestimate me, or my spirits".

'_Spirits?' _thought Gray confused.

"Oh Regulus, grant me strength"

Suddenly, Loke was engulfed by a blinding light, his fist was poised for an attack and his eyes were closed in concentration.

Suddenly, he charged towards Gray at lightning speed, Gray never saw it coming.

'_So fast!' _he thought.

"REGULUS IMPACT!"

He was knocked back by a punch to the face, but turned his fall into a backflip to avoid crashing on the ground.

He was crouched on the floor, his left cheek throbbing and probably swollen from the impact, he wasn't gonna lie; that was a damn good punch.

But this was no time to admire it, this was a battle.

"ICE MAKE; LANCE!"

Gray sent a bunch of ice lances in Loke's direction, there was no way he could miss them.

"FLEUVE D'ETOILES!"

Gray's lances were suddenly smashed by Lucy's whip, which was glowing a gold and blue. It looked like a tiny river of energy.

"Huh, not bad. Looks like this won't be as boring as I thought" said Gray with a cocky grin.

The fight went on, both parties landing hit after hit on one another, although Loke kept on intercepting the ones aimed at Lucy.

Gray noticed that he was pushing them back as they fought on, and they were headed towards the lake. That would give him an even greater advantage for his ice.

He smirked to himself, sure these guys were tough, but Gray had home field advantage.

"SAND BUSTER!"

Gray suddenly heard another new voice coming from the direction of the lake, which was about to be in full view soon.

"Ack, damn it! Now I got sand in my mouth!"

'_That was Gajeel's voice. He's also fighting? How many of these guys are there?' _thought Gray in annoyance.

Gray spotted Gajeel and some weird scorpion-man fighting in the shallows of the lake, but as he got closer he noticed that behind him, was a girl that looked identical to Lucy; her exact mirror image.

"What the hell?" he asked in confusion.

How could there be two of the same person, he's heard of twins but they were even wearing the exact same outfit, hairstyle and weapons. This was too strange, it was like she copied herself or something.

"Ah! Another blonde chick!? Am I seeing double or something?!" yelled Gajeel in confusion as he noticed Gray and his enemies.

"Now's my chance, Gemini! Time for phase 3!" yelled Gray's Lucy as she suddenly ran towards the lake.

"Right away Miss Lucy!" said Gajeel's Lucy.

"Oi, where do you think you're going!?" yelled Gray as he tried to run after her, but Loke stopped him by grabbing his arms and pushing him back.

"Oh no you don't! You won't lay a finger on my Lucy!" yelled Loke as he pushed Gray back.

"CLOSE GATE; SCORPIO!"

Gajeel's Lucy, or as her name appeared; Gemini, suddenly shouted and the Scorpion-man vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving her by herself.

"Okay, CLOSE GATE OF THE TWINS AND THE LION!"

With another two puffs of smoke, Gray and Gajeel's enemies disappeared, leaving only one person; Lucy, behind in the middle of the lake.

Gray ran up to Gajeel, both guys wondering what she had planned next.

"What the hell's going on now!?" yelled Gray as he stood next to Gajeel, both guys annoyed and exhausted from their fights.

"I dunno man, I've seen some crazy stuff today! A giant perverted cow, a guy in a horse-suit, a scorpion-man, I'm losing my goddamn mind!" yelled Gajeel angrily.

"OPEN GATE OF THE WATER BEARER; AQUARIUS!"

'_Aquarius?' _thought Gray and Gajeel; that name sounded familiar.

The sound of a doorbell rang as a white light appeared where Lucy plunged a key into the lake. Suddenly when the light disappeared a new figure took its place.

It was a blue haired, and blue tailed mermaid, wearing a matching blue bikini top, she was also holding a blue vase in her hands.

She was very pretty, but gave off a pretentious aura that had Gajeel and Gray on their toes.

"Okay Aquarius, knock those guys out!" yelled Lucy as she pointed at Gray and Gajeel with a victorious smirk.

"Tch" said the mermaid.

"Hey come on! What's with the attitude!?" yelled Lucy angrily.

"Boss me around like that again, and you're dead, got it?" asked Aquarius with a death glare, which not only caused Lucy to flinch back, but Gray and Gajeel as well.

"Y-Yes ma'am" said Lucy nodding her head furiously.

'_What a scary lady!' _thought Gray and Gajeel fearfully.

Suddenly Aquarius' vase was sucking up the lakes water like a massive vacuum, and glowing a bright blue.

Then all of a sudden the water disappeared, only for the inside of the vase to glow again, while it was aimed at Gray and Gajeel, and a massive whirlpool of water suddenly shot out of it and headed straight for them!

"AAAAAARRRGGGHHH!" yelled Aquarius in a battle cry, her face morphed in blind fury.

"What the hell is she doing?!" yelled Gray in fear as he saw the giant wave headed straight for them.

"That wave's gonna hit blondie too!" yelled Gajeel as he tried to get away from the wave even though he knew it was kinda pointless.

"I'm used to it!" yelled Lucy, also trying to get away from the wave.

'_You mean this isn't the first time she's been attacked by her!?' _thought Gray and Gajeel.

The wave kept growing in size, it was practically a tsunami, and when it hit them it did so without mercy.

"Aaaaaaaahhhh!"

"Why do you always have to hit me too!?" yelled Lucy as she swirled around in the wave.

By the time the water had stopped flowing, the guys were so dizzy, drenched, and out of breath that they couldn't even stand. Their eyes even had swirls in them.

"Ugh, I'm gonna hurl…" said Gajeel with puffed up green cheeks.

"Ugh, th-that made you motion sick? Haha… uuuhh… w-wuss…" groaned Gray who felt like his head was a cloud.

Lucy was walking towards them very wobbly, she spat water from her mouth, she was slightly dizzy as well but she still managed to stay upright.

She started laughing weakly "T-take that punks… Oww… I think she really aimed for me this time…" she said while holding her head and leaning on a tree.

"Lucy my dear, are you alright?!" asked Loke as he showed up out of thin air.

"Fine fine…" she said waving her hand in a dismissive motion then shifted her gaze to him "…I see you let yourself out" she said as he wrapped her arm over his shoulder to support her.

"But of course, how else do you expect to cuff these guys in the anti-magic cuffs? You can barely see straight" said Loke with a concerned gaze.

Lucy sighed in exasperation "You make a good point, I'm pretty much out of magic power anyway. Can you cuff them for me? I'm still trying to figure out where the floor is" she said with a weak smile, panting slightly as she handed her cuffs over to Loke.

Loke grabbed the cuffs and sighed in annoyance "Why did you come up with such a reckless plan in the first place? You could have seriously gotten hurt Lucy" he said with a voice laced in concern as he made his way to the passed out mages.

Lucy sighed tiredly as she leaned against a tree for support "It was the best plan I could come up with on short notice. There wasn't any other choice" she said softly.

Loke huffed at her reply "I just hope the reward is worth it this time" he said as he leaned down to cuff Gray.

"FIRE DRAGON IRON FIST!"

Loke jumped back just as a flaming fist was about to hit him head on and stepped in front of Lucy to defend her.

The man that had appeared in front of them looked to be the same age as the men they were trying to capture, only for some reason his face and hair were completely covered by some white cloth that looked kinda like a scarf. The only thing that was visible on his face, was his fiery glare.

"Oh great, another one" muttered Loke in annoyance.

"F-Flame-head?" said Gray in confusion "Ha… I win the bet…" he said, still not fully conscious of what was going on.

Natsu just rolled his eyes and then pointed a finger at Lucy and Loke "Who the hell are you and what do you want?!" he yelled angrily.

"We don't have to answer to you… whatever the hell you are" said Loke, confused by this unknown man's appearance.

"Hey! I totally look like a ninja! Are those shades makin' ya blind or are you just stupid?!" yelled Natsu angrily while waving his fist in the air.

Loke's eye twitched in annoyance "Ok that does it, I'm gonna-"

"Wait Loke, I can handle him" said Lucy suddenly.

Both guys looked to Lucy in surprise as she made her way towards Natsu slowly, her ability to walk normally seemed to have returned.

"Are you nuts?! Lu-"

"Trust me, it may be old, but I still have one more trick up my sleeve" she said confidently.

Loke and Natsu both raised a brow in confusion, both curious as to what Lucy was planning on doing.

Slowly, she moved her hands to the hem of her skirt, and lift it up to expose her red lacy underwear!

"EEEEEHHHH!?" yelled Natsu and Loke in shock at what they were seeing. Both faces erupting in a violent red colour.

Loke passed out from an excessive nose-bleed, while Natsu just stood there red-faced and gaping.

Lucy smirked and ran right up to Natsu, raising her leg in the air while he was distracted.

"LUCY KICK!" she yelled, slamming her foot into Natsu's face.

Natsu, unprepared for the attack, took it head on and flew back a bit landing on his butt.

"Ouch!" he yelled placing a hand on his swollen cheek.

Lucy laughed victoriously "The panty distraction works every time!" she declared with a victorious smirk.

A memory came to Natsu's mind, his eye's widened in recognition and he stared at the blonde-haired girl who was getting ready for his next move.

'_It can't be… can it?' _he thought.

"Lucy…?" he asked in disbelief.

Lucy's eyes widened then turned into a harsh glare when he said her name. How did this guy know it? She took a cautious step back, placing a hand on her whip just in case.

"H-How do you know my name?! Who are you?" she asked nervously.

Natsu's eyes glistened with happiness, so it was her.

"It's me… Natsu" he said as he slowly removed his scarf from his face so that she could see his distinctive pink hair, grinning at her as he did so.

Lucy's eyes widened in shock and her hands dropped to her sides at the sight of his pink hair.

She forgot how to breathe for a moment, and she felt tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Her heart clenched painfully when he grinned happily at her.

A lone tear escaped and fell down her cheek.

"Natsu…?"

**DONE! Hope you all like it. I worked extra hard on this one to make it perfect.**

**PLEASE LEAVE A LOVELY REVIEW… YES I MEAN YOU!**

**DON'T IGNORE ME! I KNOW YOUR READING THIS! XP**


	11. Can You Feel The Love Tonight?

**OUR LOVE IS WHAT CONNECTS US**

**CHAPTER 11: Can You Feel the Love Tonight**

**AN: Well, my cat died, so feeling pretty bummed about that, but I still managed to write!**

**I know you guys have been waiting a long time for this moment, and it's finally here!**

**Enjoy, and review! XD**

* * *

><p>"<em>Natsu…?"<em>

"Hey Luce, it's been a while hasn't it?" said Natsu with a grin and a wave.

Lucy bit the bottom of her lip softly, more tears trickled down her cheeks. Slowly, she started walking towards him.

Words could not describe what Natsu was feeling at that moment. To suddenly see his childhood friend for the first time in ten years…

She had changed so much from the small little girly cry-baby he used to know.

Her hair was as lovely as he remembered it, and her eyes still held that spark of determination and wonder that he was naturally drawn to. She had become so incredibly beautiful that he couldn't believe it, her figure was practically sinful; he swallowed a lump in his throat from nervousness just looking at her.

It was clear that she had indeed become powerful as well, the last time they were together she could barely summon her celestial pet Plue. Now she had the air of an incredibly powerful Celestial mage; just like she said she would when they were kids.

Lucy was standing in front of him now, staring at his face and hair, tears still streaming down her cheeks and occasionally sniffling.

Natsu blushed at her close proximity, and grinned to try and hide it. Seeing her face this close made him pretty nervous.

Lucy lowered her head and started to tremble slightly, Natsu assumed it was from sadness which made him feel extremely guilty.

"Natsu… you… you…"

Natsu was about to wrap his arms around her to comfort her but stopped dead when he saw that she had raised her fist in the air and her eyes were gleaming with anger.

"YOU IDIOT!" she yelled decking him in the face and knocking him back a few feet.

Ok, not trembling in sadness, trembling in rage… yes.

"Ouch Lucy! That hurt!" he whined rubbing the sore spot on his face that she hit.

"Serves you right! Do you have any idea what I've been through!? And then you say 'Been a while hasn't it?' like its nothing!? I haven't seen you in TEN YEARS Natsu! Ten years!" she said angrily, huffing when she finished, she tried rubbing the tears out of her eyes roughly but they kept on coming.

Natsu's eyes widened in shock when he realized what she was saying. He couldn't even imagine what she must be feeling right now. The guilt he was feeling earlier had grown now, he felt like such a scumbag.

"Why did you disappear Natsu? I was so lonely. I… I…" Lucy couldn't stop her tears from coming out, all feelings of anger had become overshadowed by her sadness. She covered her eyes with her hands and cried her heart out.

Natsu got up off the floor and made his way towards Lucy, it was his fault she was sad. He hated it when she cried, he was weak to her tears and was always afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing and making it worse.

There was only one thing he could do now, she may punch him again for this, but he felt like it would be worth it.

Lucy's breath hitched when she felt two warm arms encasing her in a warm embrace, she could hear Natsu's heart beating erratically and her hands were placed on his muscled chest. She felt him move one of his hands to her hair and stroke her gently while the other was rubbing circles on her back.

"I'm sorry Lucy. I really am. I'm so very sorry…" he said placing his forehead on hers in a comforting manner.

Her eyes widened for a moment, then softened as she returned his embrace, wrapping her arms around his back.

"Idiot, you stupid fire-eating idiot!" she said into his chest.

"I know Luce, I'm a big idiot. Sorry" he said with a sad smile.

Lucy sniffled then moved back to look at Natsu, rubbing her wet eyes that had finally stopped producing tears.

"What's going on here?" asked Gray in confusion, but it looked like no one heard him.

"What the heck are you doing here anyway?" she said as she rubbed her right eye with one hand and placed the other on her hip.

"Me? What the heck are _you _doing here?!" said Natsu looking confused.

"Ugh, Oi! Will somebody please explain what the hell's going on here?!"

Natsu and Lucy turned and saw that Gajeel and Gray had woken up and making their way towards them. Their eyes held suspicion and confusion, first this girl tried to kill them, now suddenly she's all buddy-buddy with Natsu and acting like nothing happened?! What the hell!?

"Oh, Ice-prick, finally woke up?" asked Natsu with a bored look.

Gray had a tick-mark appear on his forehead.

"Some friend you are fire-fag, now you wanna tell us what the actual fuck is going on here?! Who is this chick?!" yelled Gajeel in annoyance.

"Oh, right, this here is Lucy guys. My best friend!" said Natsu with a wide grin, one that the guys have never seen before.

"FRIEND!?" they yelled in shock.

"Uhuh!" said Natsu completely oblivious to their reaction.

"Oh Natsu, you know these guys?" asked Lucy with her hands behind her back and a curious look on her face.

"Yeah, the one with the bolts in his head is Gajeel, and the stripper is Gray. They're buddies of mine" he said with a grin as he pointed to each guy.

"Nice to meet you, my Name is Lucy" she said as she bowed her head in greeting with a smile on her face.

"Yeah hi-wait a friggen minute!" yelled Gray in annoyance. "This chick attacked us and tried to arrest us for some unknown reason, and your all acting like nothing happened!?" yelled Gray in angry confusion.

"Geez, relax stripper" said Natsu digging in his ear.

"I'm sorry about that, I was sent on a mission to collect you two for a bounty, I didn't really have a choice. If I had known you were friends of Natsu's I… I… please forgive me" she said with a sad expression while she bowed apologetically.

Natsu glared at Gray angrily and Gray waved his hands in surrender while Gajeel just folded his arms in front of his chest with a scowl directed at the ground.

"You made her sad ass-face" said Natsu angrily.

"I wasn't trying ta make her sad!" he yelled "Um, hey, it's cool, no worries! We're fine now so it's all good!" said Gray apologetically to Lucy.

Lucy lifted her head and had a surprised look on her face "R-Really?" she asked.

"Yeah, don't feel bad, it was actually kinda fun. Haven't let loose like that in a while" said Gray with a sheepish grin as he scratched the back of his head.

Lucy smiled widely at this "Thank you so much!" she said happily.

Gray and Natsu blushed at the face she was making. She really was too cute. Gajeel continued to remain indifferent.

"By the way, why are you guys all wet?" asked Natsu with a raised brow.

The guys paled as they remembered a certain blue-haired devil. They felt chill run down their spines just from the memory.

"That would be Aquarius' doing" said Lucy sheepishly.

Natsu paled, of all things they had to see it was her…

"You guys are lucky to be alive!" he said in a scared tone.

"Don't remind me! At least now I know what you meant when you spoke about her last night" said Gray fearfully.

Gajeel nodded his head in agreement.

"Jeez Luce, no mercy huh? By the way, what happened to that lion guy? He's gone too?" asked Natsu curiously.

"I'm more concerned about the fact that we got bounties on our heads now" said Gajeel with a scowl.

"Nah, that just goes to show how badass we've become lately!" said Natsu with a grin.

The guys were grinning and joking with each other as Lucy just watched with a content smile. She couldn't believe that Natsu was alive… and he had grown into such a handsome young man as well. She found herself staring at him and his features longer than necessary and blushed when she realized.

"I still can't believe you're really here in front of me. Everyone's gonna freak out when they find out where you've been this whole time… don't even get me started on your mother" she said with her hands on her hips and a smile on her face.

Natsu's smile faltered, he didn't want people to know where he was, the whole reason he left in the first place was to stay away from them. He was sure his mother would hate him if she saw him again after all this time. How much did she know about the accident anyway?

"She doesn't have to know anything, its better if no one knows about this" he said in a hard voice, glaring at the ground with a hurt expression.

"What are you talking about Natsu!? Everyone thinks you're dead!" she said in angry confusion as she grabbed his shoulders.

Natsu's eyes widened in shock.

Dead?

That's what they thought? Was this why Lucy was so shocked when she saw him? Woah, they really would freak out if they saw him now…

"Seriously?" he asked in shock.

"Yeah, Acnologia told us about the ambush" she said with a downcast expression.

"H-He did? What else did he tell everyone?" he asked curiously. Did he tell them that it was his fault?

"Who cares about what he said!? You're alive!" she said with a happy expression.

Suddenly her eyes widened in realization "That means… you're the King of Magnolia…" she said stepping back slightly, a smile on her face at the thought.

"King?!" yelled Gray and Gajeel in shock.

Lucy nodded her head at this. The guys just burst out laughing.

"Th-there's no way on this planet… that fire-breath here is a King!" yelled Gray in between laughs, clutching his stomach in pain.

"Oh Sire, need me to give you some gourmet flames?!" yelled Gajeel sarcastically as he laughed at his own bad joke.

Natsu glared at his so-called friends as they mocked him, Lucy just stood there with a confused look on her face at their reaction. She was being dead serious, did they seriously not know who Natsu really is?

"I'm serious" she said with a deadpanned expression.

They stopped laughing immediately and looked at her in shock, then looked to Natsu who flinched at their gaze.

"Is she serious?!" yelled Gray in confusion.

"You're a friggen King Salamander?!" asked Gajeel in shock.

"No!" yelled Natsu in annoyance.

"Natsu?!" said Lucy in confusion. Of course he was the King, why was he denying it? He was always so excited about it when he was a kid… what changed?

"Just stop okay? I'm not King alright? Sure I was supposed to be but… that was a long time ago" he said as he walked away from his friends in annoyance.

"Wait a second there bro. You're the King… and you didn't think you should tell us this?!" yelled Gray angrily, they were friends for a long time, you'd think this would be important!

"Well, we did say he didn't have to tell us anything…" said Gajeel softly as he recalled an old memory.

"It's not important! I'm still me!" said Natsu reassuringly.

"Yeah, but dude… your royalty! You're an important person!" yelled Gray in frustration.

Typical Natsu, not realizing how important things are until someone else has to say it!

"Oh for the love of-"

"Would you guys… excuse us for a few minutes?" asked Lucy as she walked up to Natsu and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Gray and Gajeel raised a brow at this. This chick just waltzes in here and tries to have some 'private time' with their friend like it's nobody's business. What the heck did she have to say to him that they couldn't hear? Was she gonna extort money out of him or something?

"Tch, fat chance blondie" said Gajeel with his arms crossed which made Lucy form a surprised look on her face.

"Yeah, no offense, but whatever you need to say to cherry-head here, you can say in front of us. Ain't that right?" said Gray as he gestured for Natsu to agree.

Natsu looked everywhere except at them, his cheeks were slightly pink and he scratched his cheek in embarrassment.

"Um… I think it would be less awkward if you guys left…" he said finally looking at them.

Their mouths dropped to the floor.

Did Natsu just ditch them… for a girl?

Oh God… he had it bad.

"Well, I can see where this is going" said Gray in a huff as he started walking away with Gajeel behind him.

"Tch, unbelievable" muttered Gajeel as he sent a glare in Natsu's direction as he walked off.

Natsu sweat-dropped at their behaviour, they were surely gonna crap on him about this later.

"Well, they may not be the best guys around… but you get used to em eventually" he said with a grin at Lucy.

He noticed that she had a sad look on her face again, she turned around and stared at the ground sadly, tears once again gathering at the corners of her eyes.

His eyes were laced with concern. If he had known seeing her again would make her this sad… he felt so guilty about being happy to see her.

"What is it?" he asked trying to get in front of her, concern evident in his tone.

Lucy rubbed the corners of her eyes, trying so desperately to stop her tears from falling.

A sad smile formed on her face "This isn't a dream right? You're really here in front of me?" she asked him in a sad tone.

He felt his chest tighten at her question, and placed his hands on her shoulder in comfort.

"Of course I am. See? As real as you" he said with a grin.

Lucy looked up at him, the sad smile still there "You have no idea how much this'll mean to everyone… how much this means to me…" she said as she placed a hand over Natsu's one on her shoulder.

"Hey come on now. You know I can't handle you when you're sad. It's gonna be okay!" he said with a reassuring grin.

Lucy smiled… a real one this time.

Suddenly she wrapped her arms around Natsu's neck and held him in a tight embrace. Natsu's eyes widened at first them softened as he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him. Like he was afraid she'd slip away if he let go.

"I missed you so much Natsu" she said placing her head in the crook of his neck.

Natsu placed his head on Lucy's hair and took a deep whiff… strawberry and vanilla… she still smelled the same as he remembered.

"I missed you too Luce" he said softly, a loving smile on his face.

They held each other for a while, each just enjoying the feeling of being in each other's arms. Completely forgetting the world around them.

"Tch, this is complete bullshit" said Gray in annoyance.

The guys were standing a few feet away from them, making sure to be out of Natsu's earshot, watching the scene play out before them. Which confused them since it was making them pretty sick to watch something so mushy.

"What ever happened to Bro's before Hoe's?" said Gajeel grumpily.

"How could that moron get a girl before me?! It doesn't make any sense" grumbled Gray in annoyance.

"That's what's annoying you?" asked Gajeel with a brow raised.

"Not to mention the fact that she's also super-hot, why is the universe so unkind?!" complained Gray.

"Oh get over yourself Ice-boy" said Gajeel with a sigh of annoyance.

"I mean, who does she think she is? First she just shows up out of nowhere and beats us up, now she's using her feminine whiles to take Natsu back to the Kingdom?" said Gray angrily as he crossed his arms.

"… What's wrong with that?" asked Gajeel in confusion.

Gray let out an aggravated sigh "I sense disaster in the air" he said as he saw Natsu and Lucy walk away somewhere together.

* * *

><p>Natsu was walking next to Lucy, she mentioned she was thirsty so he suggested that they go back to the lake for a drink, provided that she promise not to bring Aquarius out again.<p>

Lucy giggled at his silliness but promised anyway.

"So Luce, tell me what you've been up to. How are your parents?" asked Natsu as they walked toward the lake.

The sun was setting, and the sky was turning a lovely purple, the insects making sweet natural music as they walked by and the fireflies had started to glow. All in all, the atmosphere was very romantic.

Lucy's face was downcast at his question, and a sad smile decorated her face.

"They're… they both passed on Natsu…" she said sadly.

Natsu's eyes widened in shock, he almost tripped over his own feet.

"W-What?" he asked incredulously.

"Yup, Mama got sick about a year after your dad died… there was no cure, she died in her sleep" she said sorrowfully as she wrapped her arms around herself in comfort.

"Papa was heartbroken, so in order to cope he threw himself into his work. I'd go a whole week and never get the chance to see his face he was so busy. And if that wasn't bad enough the taxes were so high that he couldn't even take a day off" she said with a frown.

"One day he just pushed himself too hard and collapsed, he was so thin…" she said and started tearing up at the memory.

"Three years ago he passed as well, and its been just me ever since" she said as she looked at the sky teary eyed.

Natsu felt terrible, Lucy had been alone all that time, not to mention the fact that her dad seemed to be neglecting her after she lost her mom. How could she be so strong?

Natsu grabbed on to her shoulders and pulled her into a strong hug, it wasn't much, but it was all he could do for now.

Lucy let out a relieved sigh and leaned into him. His body was still as warm as it was when they were children if not more so. And it was still as comforting too.

"I'm fine Natsu, I had your mom and little Wendy to keep me company" she said with a small smile as he pulled back from the hug.

Natsu's eye's widened. Wendy… his baby sister, she was barely two-years old when he left. Did she even know who he was?

"W-Wendy huh? I haven't seen her since she was a baby, what's she like now?" he asked curiously.

Lucy giggled "She's the most adorable girl ever. She's sweet and kind, a little bit shy at times, and has developed the same magic as your mother, she's just as pretty too. She's about this tall now" she said holding her hand out to show how tall she had gotten.

Natsu chuckled softly, it sounded like she had grown up ok, although he couldn't help the bittersweet feeling he had knowing that she had no idea who he was.

"She also loves her big brother very much" said Lucy with a smile.

Natsu looked up to her in shock which caused Lucy to giggle.

"Every chance she gets she asks me about you, and all the crazy stuff we did as kids. I think she's developed a brother complex to you or something?" she said with a giggle.

Natsu swallowed thickly. She knew about him.

His sister knew about him. He wasn't a total stranger to her.

He felt his heart clench with happiness and smiled greatly.

"That's great to hear!" he said as he wiped the tears that had formed in the corners of his eyes vigorously.

Lucy smiled softly at him, still always trying to act like a tough guy. She wiped her eye to hide her tears, she realized she cried a lot today.

She looked to her right and saw the clearing where the lake was. The setting sun making the water glow beautifully, and the fireflies added to its beauty.

"Oh look, we're here already…" she said staring at the lake.

Natsu looked up and saw where she was looking. She was right, they had made it to the lake.

Why did it feel like such a short trip?

"Y-Yeah, lets go get something to drink. After all the crying you've done I'm sure you need to rehydrate" he teased with a cheeky grin.

Lucy puffed out her cheeks and glared angrily at him "And whose fault was that?!" she huffed, angrily striding passed him.

Natsu snickered, looks like she was still fun to tease, and that face was too cute…

'_Eh? CUTE? What am I thinking?!' _he thought in embarrassment.

He scratched his head in confusion and jogged to catch up to Lucy, who was already scooping water in her palms and drinking it.

She looked mad, he knew she would give him the silent treatment if he tried to talk to her now. That's just how she is.

He sighed in exasperation and rubbed his head, why were women so complicated?

He walked toward the lake, but made sure to stay a few feet away from Lucy lest he be the victim of her glare again. He rolled his eyes, he was only teasing her, did she always have to be so sensitive?

He scooped some water and gulped it down, he never realized how thirsty he actually was, he was too focused on Lucy to notice.

He turned to look at her and felt his breath hitch.

The sunset was directly behind her, creating a sort of glow around her figure. As if she came from the heavens themselves. The suns reflection on the lake make her face glow beautifully. Her eyes shined brightly, and as she brought the water in her hands to her lips to take a sip it illuminated her lips for a second, causing Natsu to gulp from nervousness. She poured the water into her open mouth and drank, a small drop fell from the corner of her mouth, it ran down her cheek, her neck, until finally Natsu lost sight of it inside her cleavage.

When Natsu realized where he had been looking his face lit up and he felt hot.

He had never been affected by heat before, but this felt extremely different compared to any kind of heat he had ever felt before. It felt like it was coming from inside his heart; which he noticed, was beating abnormally fast.

Frustrated with this foreign feeling, he shoved his hands into the lake scooped as much water as possible and splashed it on his face. He really needed to cool down.

Lucy looked at him in surprise at the sudden action. Water still in her hands.

She tilted her head slightly, her face showing concern.

Natsu looked up and saw her expression, well… at least she wasn't mad at him anymore.

Suddenly an idea hit him, making him smirk mischievously.

He got up off the ground and make his way to the forest again. Lucy raised a brow at his odd behavior.

'_What is that goofball up to now?' _she thought nervously.

Seemingly out of nowhere he ran at full speed out of the forest and toward the lake… with a vine in his hands?!

"Woohoo!"

He ran towards a small nearby ledge, swung on the vine, released it, and fell into the water below.

Lucy's mouth practically hit the floor from shock. Was he trying to get himself killed?!

She ran to the ledge and peered into the water, hoping she would she him resurfacing soon.

"Natsu!" she yelled fearfully, she couldn't see him at all.

She was scanning the water nervously, not paying too much attention to the area directly in front of her when he suddenly surfaced and latched onto her arms, making the poor girl shriek and her eyes go wide.

He grinned at her, then pulled her into the water with him. Completely soaking the girl.

Lucy swam to the surface and sucked in a deep breath of air. She coughed the water out of her lungs and stayed afloat.

Once the shock left her body she swam to the water's edge and pulled herself out. Her eyes were still wide in shock. How could that idiot do that to her?!

Natsu popped his head up above the water and laughed loudly. Her face was so priceless when he grabbed her!

Lucy was on her hands and knees, trying to inhale as much air as possible. She coughed some more and finally managed to stabilize herself.

Natsu swam toward her and got out of the water behind her. He was still chuckling to himself when he stood up and placed his hand on her back.

"Water's pretty good huh? Thought you should try it out" he said with a cheeky grin.

He was expecting her to yell and smack him for his actions. He never expected her to suddenly turn to him and smirk.

Lucy swiped his legs from under him, making him lose his balance and almost fall on the floor. Just before he did she got up quickly and pushed him back into the water.

With a shocked yelp he fell backwards into the water.

When he resurfaced he saw Lucy towering over him, her arms crossed and a victorious smirk on her face.

"Water's pretty good huh?" she taunted, grinning at his reaction.

Natsu smirked at this, so she wanted to play did she?

"Oh, it is so on" he said as he made his way out of the lake.

With a scared 'eep' she ran away from him into the forest.

She was still soaking wet. When Natsu got out of the water he dried himself off with his fire magic, and sniffed the air for Lucy's scent. She seemed to have forgotten that he could smell things better than a bloodhound, and when it came to Lucy; her scent was always gonna stick out to him, wet or not.

He grinned predatorily, the thrill of chasing Lucy down making his blood pump faster.

"Oh Lucy, Lucy, you should know by now that you can't get away from me that easily" he said, taking off after her at full speed.

He caught her scent easily, and followed it quickly. He saw her running through an open field, the sun had completely set now, and the stars were bright and high in the sky. There seemed to be a lot more than usual today, they were exceptionally vibrant.

The field they were running through had tall grass, reaching to their knees making it a little hard to run. There were fireflies here as well, Natsu was starting to notice there were a lot of these suckers around lately, what was up with that?

"I'm catching up Lucy~" he taunted cheerfully.

Lucy laughed at his behavior, it was like they were kids all over again.

"I'd like to see you try slowpoke!" she said with a laugh.

Natsu grinned, happy that the heavy atmosphere between them had disappeared and become more playful.

He liked this side of Lucy a lot more than her sad side, a fun and teasing Lucy always brightened his day.

They entered the forest again, the trees made it harder for Lucy to run, since she wasn't familiar with the area, so she slowed down a bit. This was to Natsu's advantage since he knew every little thing about the forest, and she was heading for a little hill of soft grass. He would catch her there for sure.

"Oh I've got you now" he said triumphantly picking up his pace.

"Crap!" she said fearfully, she knew there was no way she could outrun him, and he knew the area better too.

Just as Lucy made a quick turn she almost failed to notice the small hill and screeched to a stop just before she tumbled down.

"Phew, that was a close one" she said with a relieved sigh.

Suddenly two warm arms snaked around her waist making her squeal in surprise.

"Caught ya!" yelled Natsu triumphantly as he pulled Lucy closer to him.

However this was a bad move, since it had caused them both to suddenly lose their footing and send them tumbling down the hill. Good thing the grass was soft.

They rolled for a while, both screaming and laughing while holding onto each other, Natsu made sure to wrap an arm around her head so that she didn't get injured and pull her body extra close to his so that he got the brunt of the impact.

After a while they finally reached the bottom of the hill, both out of breath from laughing too hard.

Natsu was on top of Lucy, neither had yet to register their positions or their close proximity. Natsu's elbows were on either side of Lucy's head, his face was nuzzled against her neck, as Lucy's was to his, and Lucy's arms were pressed against her chest. Their legs were a tangled mess, and they were covered in grass and leaves.

"You crazy idiot!" laughed Lucy, smacking Natsu lightly on his chest.

Natsu laughed "While that may be true, this is actually the first time I successfully tackled you! About time!" he said with a cheerful grin.

Lucy didn't know what came over her, it could have been the fact that she was just dizzy from the tumble down the hill, the fact that she was feeling so blissful it clouded her rationality, or that damn grin of his that could make any girl swoon.

Either way, by the time she realized what she did, there was no stopping her.

She wound her arms around Natsu's neck suddenly, the boy was still cheering about his victory to notice, she slowly pulled him closer, and finally planted a tender kiss on his cheek.

Natsu's brain and body froze at the contact. It was so sudden and unexpected he had no idea what to do. The place where her lips touched felt like he had been burned, but it was such an amazing feeling, like he couldn't get enough of it. His heart and stomach clenched, he felt like he would internally combust at any moment.

Then as suddenly as the contact came, it was gone.

He looked down into Lucy's eyes; they were wide with shock, like she hadn't meant to kiss him, what did this mean? Sure they were best buds when they were kids, but did they actually have these kinds of feelings even back then and not even realize it? Or was this just a spur of the moment thing? A sudden latent reaction to not seeing him for over ten years?

No… Natsu didn't want to think it was sudden.

Lucy put her arms on Natsu's chest to push him back so that she could get up again, her face was a brilliant shade of red, that could only be seen thanks to the light the fireflies provided. Now in an upright position Natsu was staring at Lucy with a burning intensity, while Lucy looked to the ground, making sure to avoid eye contact at all costs.

Natsu was the first to break the silence since it was eating him alive.

"Luce-"

"Sorry! I-I don't know what came over me!" she said with a nervous laugh.

Oh she knew what came over her alright, she knew the second her lips touched Natsu's cheek.

In hindsight, she should have realized it right after she first reunited with him, the feelings he had instilled in her should have been a good tipping point. Had she not read her fair share of romance novels to know what this feeling was? Had she not yelled at the main protagonists many times about how dense they were for not knowing how they felt right away?

She had felt this way about him since they were kids. At first she thought it was a measly crush and that she would get over it. But seeing him again after thinking he was dead all these years… it made her heart soar. No one would ever be able to create these feelings inside her, only Natsu.

'_Ah crap, don't tell me I've been in love with him since I was little?!' _she thought in embarrassment.

Natsu wasn't gonna let her get away with any excuses though. Lucy never did things without a reason, and he was both nervous and interested to hear her reasoning for this.

Natsu placed his hand on her chin and forced her to look him in the eye, her face was still a bright red, which made him feel kinda smug, but he made sure she kept her gaze only on him.

"Luce, look at me" he said in a stern voice.

Lucy groaned internally, this was so embarrassing, now she was gonna have to explain her actions to him, she wondered if he was still as dense about romance as he was when he was a kid.

She focused her eyes on his, while hers were glistening in embarrassment, his were shining with determination and… something else Lucy had never seen before. It was spine-chilling… but in a good way.

"Luce… wanna tell me what that was all about?" he said in a serious tone. It wasn't one of anger, it was more like he wanted a clear-cut, detailed explanation of why she did what she did. Which would be absolutely mortifying to explain.

Lucy's face doubles in its redness, if that was even possible. What did he expect her to say anyway?!

'_Hey guess what Natsu! I've secretly been in love with you since we were kids, and finally seeing you after all this time my feelings kinda burst out and my body moved on its own! Yeah right, like I'd ever say that out loud!' _she thought in a panic.

Finally Lucy just got fed up with herself and decided to bite the bullet. He had to have _some _idea as to why she kissed him!

Lucy turned her gaze away from him slightly, a small pout forming on her features.

"Moron, do I have to spell it out for you?" she said softly, but made sure she was loud enough for him to hear.

Natsu's eyes widened slightly. His heartbeat escalated at an insane rate, and he knew his face was ridiculously red right now. Did that mean that she..?

Natsu's eyes were more determined than ever now, Lucy had taken the first step, now it was his turn to reciprocate. But with Natsu, he was a man who wanted to do things better than others, always trying to one up his opponents. Not that Lucy was an opponent or anything, but he felt like he had to answer her with much more than a kiss on the cheek.

He slowly moved the hand that was on her chin to her cheek, startling her and making her cast a questioning glance at him. He was leaning forward now, her eyes widened in realization of what he was about to do. She gasped softly, their noses were about to touch, she could feel his breath ghosting over her face.

Goosebumps were forming all over her body, the anticipation was almost suffocating.

They both closed their eyes, their noses bumped softly, until finally, Natsu claimed Lucy's lips with his own.

* * *

><p><strong>Dun dun Duuuuuun…<strong>

**Ain't I such a troll, Not like Mashima but close XP**

**I know you all hate me for ending it there… sooooo leave a review to vent your frustrations please? XD**


	12. The Choices We Must Make

**CHAPTER 12: The Choices We Must Make**

**A/N: After leaving you with that last cliff-hanger I'm sure you're all kinda pissed that I left it for so long. And I apologize for that. University has been tough so I've been focusing on that, and I just found out that my cat has cancer and I can't do anything about it except wait. Sigh, drama. Anyway, extra-long chapter to make up for my absence, hope you like it. Please leave a review ;D**

* * *

><p>"So where do you think they went?" asked Gray as he walked around aimlessly with Gajeel.<p>

"I don't know, or care. Best to stay away from them right now anyway" said Gajeel with his hands in his pockets.

"Why's that?" asked Gray with a raised brow.

"That chick belongs to Salamander, so seeing as he hasn't seen her since they were little I'm assuming they'll be doin' some _'catching up'_ if you catch my drift" said Gajeel with a cheeky smirk.

"Haah?! C-c-c-catching up?! And what do you mean she belongs to him?" asked Gray with a blush.

"It's a Dragon Slayer thing" Gajeel shrugged and continued on.

"Like that makes it any better! And besides this is Natsu we're talking about, he wouldn't even know what to do!" yelled Gray in shock.

"Oh no need to worry about that, when the time comes instincts will do the rest" he said with a smirk.

"How the hell do you even know this stuff?" asked Gray with a skeptical glare.

"Let's just say my dad had no boundaries" he said with a chuckle.

Gray grimaced, imagining what kind of things Gajeel's dad would have told a child no older than 8.

"Yeah, those two are probably making out even as we speak" said Gajeel with a smirk.

Gray rolled his eyes in disbelief "Oh please, as if Flame-brain even knows how to kiss"

* * *

><p>The kiss was tentative and cautious at first, as if he was testing the waters for her reaction. When she responded the kiss became more desperate and demanding.<p>

Natsu was nervous about kissing Lucy at first, since he'd never done such a thing before, and he was hoping she hadn't either; coz he was sure to pound any guy who so much as touched her. But once she returned the kiss, it was like a volcano erupted and Natsu couldn't get enough.

Lucy wrapped her arms around his neck and brought herself closer to Natsu's lips. Natsu had one arm around her waist while the other hand was cupping her cheek.

Lucy was tugging at the hair on the nape of his neck, making him release a growl of approval as he brought her flush against him.

Tentatively he licked her bottom lip, his tongue silently begging for permission to continue. And without any hesitation she let him in. Their tongues met cautiously at first then suddenly became more heated and frantic.

Lucy let out a small moan and moved her hand from his neck and trailed it further down his back in a caress. Natsu growled and kissed her harder, not allowing either of them to stop for air.

Lucy's hand reached Natsu's backside, and in an almost possessed movement she firmly grasped it; making Natsu stop and stiffen.

Realizing what she had done Lucy felt her face go flaming red as Natsu pulled back to look at her with astonishment and pink cheeks. He suddenly smirked at her cheekily and placed his head on hers in a loving gesture.

"Wow Lucy, didn't peg ya for a butt gal" he said with a cheeky smirk.

"Sh-shut up! I-I don't even know what came over me!" she said in embarrassment as she hid her face in his chest.

"I think we should stop for today, ok?" he asked with a small smile.

Lucy looked down in embarrassment and nodded her head slowly, the blush still present on her face.

"Hey, I'm not saying I don't want to"

"Just not right now, right?" asked Lucy with an understanding smile.

Natsu grinned and pecked her lips in a chaste kiss.

"Well I mean, if ya still wanna grab my butt I won't stop ya-"

"Natsu!" Yelled Lucy as she smacked his shoulder in embarrassment.

He chuckled as he pulled back and stood up bringing Lucy with him "Come on, we still have some more exploring to do" he said with a grin.

Lucy grinned back and they walked hand in hand through the forest.

They talked about life back at the castle. How Lucy had been given a special guest room in the castle, courtesy of Grandine, after her father died, and how she had been trying to earn money by doing work as a mage for Acnologia; but it was proving more and more difficult each time the taxes increased. She spoke about how Erza had recently gone missing on a job, and even though she asked the King to gather people to search for her, he always refused.

Not wanting to dampen the mood further she asked Natsu about his life and how he lived in the forest.

He spoke of his time with Gray and Gajeel, and though he claimed they were the most annoying people he'd ever met, he thought of them as brothers. He spoke of giant monsters and creepy Vulcans he'd fought, how he'd been learning Dragon Slayer magic on his own, sometimes with Gajeel, and even Gray would join in. He had a grin on his face the whole time, and Lucy couldn't help but notice how different things turned out for them.

"This place is pretty amazing though ain't it?" he said with a grin.

Lucy nodded absentmindedly as she looked around, her hands behind her back in thought. She didn't know why, but she had this feeling that Natsu was holding something back from her, he was hiding something. The problem was, what?

"It's lovely here. But Natsu, there's something bothering me. You've been alive this whole time, why didn't you ever come back to Magnolia?" she asked as he jumped up to grab a tree branch and hang from it.

Natsu was silent for a moment, trying to think of a response that wouldn't set her off.

"Well, I just needed to get away from all the craziness, be on my own and live my own life ya know? And it's been pretty great!" he said with a smile, one Lucy noticed seemed a little forced.

Lucy looked at him sadly "We really need you back home" she said with a desperate look with hit Natsu right in the gut making him look away in discomfort.

"Nah, I'm sure you guys are fine without me around" he said trying to sound nonchalant as he swung on the branch.

"No, we're not, you're the King" said Lucy in irritation, why was he being so stubborn about this, it was his birth right.

Natsu sighed in annoyance, he knew Lucy wouldn't drop the whole 'King' thing, she was just too stubborn for her own good.

"Lucy, I told ya already, I'm not the friggen King! Acnologia is" he said in annoyance.

'_Though I'll admit he doesn't sound like a very good one from what she's told me'_ he thought.

Lucy was fed up at this point and grabbed onto his dangling leg, making sure his attention was fully on her now.

"Natsu, he let the dark mages into the kingdom, they're even part of his royal guard!" she said seriously.

Natsu stopped all movement and looked at Lucy in shock "…What?" he asked with a chocked breath.

"The whole town's in ruins, all the people are either in jail or left, and people are struggling just to get a mouldy piece of bread on the table!" she said angrily.

Natsu was so confused, why would his uncle do this? Those dark mages, they had tried to kill him and Lucy once, and he just let them in without a second thought? And the people in the kingdom? Why would he let them suffer so much?

"Natsu, I'm afraid if you don't do something soon, there won't be a Magnolia to return to" she said in desperation.

Natsu hopped off the branch and kept his back to Lucy.

He wished it was that easy, just go back home and pretend everything was fine. But his father… his uncle knew of what he did, he was there when he ran away-hell he convinced him it was his only choice! Surely he would use that against him should he suddenly appear.

No, he couldn't go back, he could never go back. He clenched his fist tightly; his knuckles turning white from his grip.

"I can't" he said in a somber tone as he glared at the ground.

"Why?!" she asked exasperated.

"You wouldn't understand" he said as he walked away from her with a downcast expression.

"What? It's me Natsu, what could you possibly say that I wouldn't understand?!" asked Lucy in anger and confusion as she walked right behind him.

"Look, it doesn't matter Luce, live and let go" he said as he rubbed the back of his neck in frustration.

"What?" she asked in mild confusion.

"Live and let go. It's something the guys came up with. Look sometimes bad things happen, and nothing can be done about it" said Natsu facing Lucy, his brows furrowed as he tried to explain himself.

"Natsu-"

"So there's no point in trying to do anything. Why bother?" he asked in annoyance as he turned away.

"Because you have a responsibility!" said Lucy angrily as she put a hand on his shoulder in desperation.

"Well what about you, you're here, you left Magnolia!" argued Natsu.

"I got away to find help! And then I ran into you. Don't you see, you're the only hope we have!" she said with a look of desperation.

Natsu turned away. He knew that if he kept looking into her eyes he would break down. He had to stay strong and look away, stay away. He could never go back.

"Sorry" he said with his eyes averted and his brows furrowed.

Lucy's eyes widened in shock. Here she was begging him for help, not just for her but for his people, and he just shot her down so simply. She took a step back in shock causing Natsu to glance at her. Her shock morphed into rage and confusion. Why was he being so selfish and so… un-Natsu?

"What's happened to you? You're not acting like the Natsu I used to know" she questioned with a scowl.

Natsu cringed but held his facade of nonchalance "Well I can't stay the same forever Lucy, so yeah I'm not the Natsu you knew. Satisfied?" he asked with a hint of annoyance.

Lucy scowled at this and turned away from him "No, but I am disappointed. What happened to the Natsu who lived for the future?" she said angrily.

Natsu felt truly annoyed now. What right did she have to judge him and his choices? She had no idea the hell he lives with day after day, constantly reminded of what he did. Scolding him and acting all disappointed. She almost sounded like…

"You know, you're starting to sound like my old man" he said in annoyance as he glared at her before walking away with his hands in his pocket.

"Well at least one of us does" she said angrily.

Natsu stopped in his tracks, his eyes widened in shock. Had she really just said that to him? He turned suddenly and walked right up to her, his gaze harsh and wounded.

"Hey, you think you can just show up suddenly and dictate me on how I live my life!? You have no idea what I've been through!" he yelled angrily making Lucy recoil in shock.

Once she recollected herself she noticed Natsu had started briskly walking away from her and she reacted angrily.

"Well if you would just tell me then I could understand! I could help!" she yelled in angry concern.

"Don't bother, just forget it!" he yelled with a wave of his hand without turning around.

Lucy growled in annoyance and stomped her foot angrily "Fine then! See if I care!" she said as she crossed her arms and looked away.

* * *

><p>Darkness had finally settled in the forest. For some reason there was a great deal of stars in the sky tonight. The stars shined above Natsu as he paced angrily in an open field of tall grass.<p>

He had his arms crossed over his chest as he huffed angrily. He let out a frustrated growl and rubbed his face harshly while glaring at the ground.

"What does she know anyway? As if I could go back just like that. It's not like it would change anything. I can't go back and undo what I did" he said with a saddened expression.

Natsu turned to look at the sky, his memories of the stories his father told him resurfacing. His face contorted in pain as he gazed at the stars.

"Dad… you were supposed to be there for me… always. You said you'd always be there for me!" he yelled sadly.

"But you're not, not anymore. And I caused it… it's all my fault" he said as he fell to his knees and covered his face with his hands in shame.

"It's all my fault…" he said while staring at the ground sadly.

.

.

Natsu sat in silence, wallowing in his own guilt when suddenly he heard a nearby bush rustle and… was that drunken giggling?

_*hic*_

"Well~ those were the… _*hic*_ days my frand! We thought they'd neverrr End! _*hic*_ we'd… uhm… now how'd the resta that tune go again?"

An old man. A tiny, bald, drunk old man had just staggered out of the forest, seemingly out of nowhere, singing in a very out of tune voice and a shit-eating grin on his face as he took a swig of his bottle of booze. His outfit was strange too, some weird looking blue and orange hat, and a bright orange jacket to go with it.

Did this guy break out of the loony bin or something?

Natsu rolled his eyes at the drunk man's behavior, all he wanted was some time alone, could the old guy not sense the atmosphere?

Natsu got up off the floor and walked away from the old man, his expression still sad and downcast. There was a watering hole he walked towards that used a log as a bridge to get across. Natsu huffed and made his way to the log and sat down on it with his legs crossed, just staring sadly at his own reflection with his elbows resting on his knees.

_*ploop*_

Natsu's reflection was suddenly distorted as something fell into the lake. He turned, confused, until he saw that same drunk old man; now without his bottle, swaying and trudging towards him. Still singing in that god-awful tune.

"Those were _*hic*_ the days… _*hic*_… my frie- hey where'd ma friend _*hic*_ go?" he asked in confusion as he stared at his empty hand in bewilderment.

His _'friend'_, Natsu assumed, was most likely the bottle of booze currently at the bottom of the lake. Natsu glanced away from the old man and tried his best to ignore him, but his wild movements and annoying swaying kept distracting him. Finally fed up, Natsu stood and glared at the old man.

"Would ya get lost old man, and cut it out with that god-awful singing!" said Natsu as he turned and walked away from the old man with his hands covering his ears.

The old man looked at Natsu and grinned, unaffected by his attitude "Now, don be silly boy! My sense a direction is too good fer me ta get lost!" he said with a hearty chuckle "An my singing's amazing, ya must have wax in yer ears kid!" he said as he walked right behind Natsu without swaying; his walking seemed greatly improved all of a sudden.

Natsu rolled his eyes and continued forward, hoping to find a little bit of peace and quiet.

"Creepy old midget" he grumbled annoyed. He turned to his left and noticed that the man was keeping up with his pace without so much as a stumble, a small wooden walking stick was in his hands though. But Natsu was more concerned about why this man wouldn't leave him alone.

Natsu's eye twitched in annoyance "Would ya quit following me old man! Just who the hell are ya anyway?!" asked Natsu in annoyance as he stopped and turned to face the man.

The old man smirked at Natsu "I think the question is who you are my boy" he said with a tilt of his head and a raised brow.

Natsu opened his mouth to respond, but couldn't. The old geezer had a point; Natsu had no family or home he could claim anymore, he was once so sure of who he was and where he was going, but ever since Lucy came back he was starting to doubt himself and his decisions.

Natsu sighed and rubbed the back of his head "Can't say I'm so sure anymore old timer" said Natsu honestly as he gazed at his feet.

The old man snorted and leaned in closer "Ah come on kid, I know who ya are! But shh!" he said as he placed his finger over his lips.

"Come closer kid, it's a secret" he said motioning Natsu closer until his hand could reach Natsu's shoulder. Natsu was genuinely curious now; what could this total stranger possibly know about him? Was he someone he used to know? The old man took a deep breath and put his mouth to Natsu's ear, Natsu swallowed nervously in anticipation.

"Thoooose~ were the days my friend! We thought they'd never end~" sang the old man joyfully as he spun around and waved his hands in the air like a monkey.

Natsu cringed and covered his ears in pain. Since his hearing was better than a normal persons he was also more sensitive to loud noises, so this guy's singing was driving him totally nuts.

"God, enough with the crappy singing! What does that stupid song even mean anyway?!" whined Natsu as he cleaned his ear with his finger and glared at the old man.

The old man turned and pointed at Natsu with a cheeky grin on his face "It means you're an old man! Just like me brat!" he said with a hearty chuckle.

Natsu looked at the man as if he were crazy, then backed away slowly as he rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"You're obviously confused old man, I'm at _least_ seventy years younger than you" said Natsu as he walked away from the annoying old guy. His right hand was twitching from not actually hitting the guy, he was surprised he could hold back this much.

Natsu was suddenly blocked in his path as the old man stood in front of him in a smug stance.

"Eeeeh! Wrong! I ain't the one confused, brat. You can't even tell me who ya are!" said the old man with a smug all-knowing grin as he poked Natsu on the knee.

Natsu scoffed in annoyance and nudged his hand off of him and he tried to walk around him.

"Please, as if you know any better" said Natsu as he walked off completely annoyed.

The old man grinned; he had been waiting for this moment since he laid eyes on the pink haired brat.

"Course I do, you're ol' Igneel's brat" he said with a knowing look.

Natsu stopped stiff, it was as if he had been frozen solid for a moment. His eyes were wide with shock and confusion; this crazy old geezer knew who he was, who his father was? He suddenly turned to look at the old man and noticed his cheerful look.

"Well… see ya!" said the old man as he suddenly ran into the tall grass and made a break for it.

"O-Oi! Wait a minute!" yelled Natsu as he chased after the man.

For a short old guy he was pretty fast, Natsu couldn't even see him anymore; but he could smell booze lingering in the air which gave away his position, luckily.

Further ahead he spotted an orange spot on top of a large boulder that reached Natsu's shoulders. That was definitely where the old man was alright.

Once he reached the boulder he huffed out in mild exhaustion, that old man was fast! And how could he run so fast and not even have a drop of sweat on him, or even look a little tired?!He was sitting with his legs and arms crossed, his walking stick tucked safely in his elbow. His eyes were closed but Natsu knew he was awake. The old guy looked as though he was re-living something, almost lost in nostalgia with the way his face was contorted.

Once Natsu took a deep breath he stood upright and stepped in front of the old man.

"You knew my dad?" he asked with genuine curiosity; besides Lucy, he hadn't seen or spoken to anyone about his father recently, so this was a rare opportunity.

"Who taught ya how to speak brat? Tch, I _know_ your dad, have since he was in diapers" said the old man without opening his eyes, his expression never changing.

Natsu's expression turned downcast, it looked like this old guy didn't know that his father died. He wished he was like that, ignorant of the things that had happened, but he felt he should let the guy know; it was only right.

"Uhm, I'm not sure how to tell ya this, but… he died, about ten years ago" he said looking away from the old man.

The old man smirked and hopped off the boulder with a chuckle.

"Eeeeh! Wrong again brat!" he said with a chuckle as he walked towards a bunch of weeping willow trees that shielded most of the forest and moved the leaves away with his walking stick.

"He's very much alive brat! I can show him to ya too. You just follow old man Makarov here, I'll get ya there!" he said as he walked behind the leaves of the willow and disappeared, coaxing Natsu to follow him.

"Come on brat!" he yelled as he ran forward.

Natsu blinked in confusion and walked forward towards the trees. He moved the leaves out of the way to look for where the old man, or Makarov as he called himself, had gone.

He looked behind him, wondering if it was really a good idea to follow this guy. No one knew where he was, and following a strange man he had just met seemed risky. But then again what did he really have to lose? This guy said his dad was alive! Either it was true or he was truly insane, there was only one way to find out.

Sucking in a breath he walked in through the trees and followed after Makarov.

The branches were a lot lower than he expected, after living in the forest for ten years he had never actually ventured through the weeping willow trees. He was always creeped out by these trees, so he never felt the need to go through them.

Until now.

He walked further in, the outside completely obscured by the thick foliage. He lost sight of Makarov for a moment and looked around nervously for him.

"Don't prance like a fairy brat!"

Natsu turned and spotted the orange jacket Makarov was wearing and saw him waving at him further ahead. Did he just call him a fairy?

"Come on, hurry up!" he shouted as he continued forward.

How was this guy so friggen fast?! This was insane, did he have some weird magic that makes him faster or something? That had to be it.

"Oi oi, wait up old man!" yelled Natsu, shoving the leaves out of his way as he tried to catch up to the surprisingly quick Makarov. He stumbled over a root and nearly fell flat on his face but managed to keep himself upright with a thanks to a few hops.

He was getting fed up with all these leaves and was very tempted to just burn them all to ash, but he had this strong feeling that he shouldn't. This place held some strange magic, and Natsu didn't think it was a good idea to mess with it. But he was pretty close to losing it when he ran face first into a spider web.

"Come on brat, you're not gonna lose to an old man are ya?" teased Makarov with a cheeky grin.

"If I knew where we were goin' this would be no problem geezer!" yelled Natsu as he hurried to catch up.

Suddenly the ground beneath Natsu's feet seemed to have disappeared causing him to fell flat on his face.

"Oof!" he yelped.

Apparently there was a small hill going down that he hadn't seen, that's what he gets for not watching where he was going.

He could hear Makarov's amused chuckle echoing around him; not creepy at all. He pinpointed the source of the laughter and followed it. Natsu hoped this stupid running was worth it, otherwise he was going to roast that old guy.

He continued forward, ignoring the sting on his face whenever a branch hit him just to keep the old man in his sights. He faintly started to recognize the scent of fresh water flowing nearby, not as much as a watering hole, maybe a pond or something?

He lost sight of Makarov suddenly and quickened his pace only to screech to a sudden halt when he saw an outstretched hand blocking his way.

"Whoa there brat!" he said with a sudden seriousness.

Natsu stopped just short in front of Makarov's hand and waited in silence with baited breath.

Makarov moved his hand and placed a finger over his lips.

"Shhh" he said as he moved backwards leaving room for Natsu to see that there was in fact a small pond right there.

Makarov pointed towards it with his walking stick and gestured for Natsu to come closer to it.

"Look over there kid" he said in a whisper.

Natsu sucked in a nervous breath and slowly moved forward. He had no idea what he was going to see, and the thought scared him. His father was supposed to be down there? Could he really believe that?

Makarov moved the reeds and tall grass surrounding the pond with his walking stick and opened its view, allowing Natsu better access.

Natsu cast a suspicious glance in Makarov's direction, but felt slightly reassured when he sent him an encouraging nod.

Natsu turned and walked closer to the pond, keeping a safe distance, he peered over the edge and looked down to find…

His own reflection, looking back at him with the same disappointed expression.

He sighed sadly in disappointment and glanced at Makarov.

"That's not my old man, it's just my reflection" said Natsu in a dejected tone as he stared at his reflection sadly.

Makarov put a hand on Natsu's shoulder in comfort and gave him a warm smile.

"Come on kiddo, look closer" he said as he lightly tapped the surface of the pond causing the water to ripple.

Natsu leaned in closer and squinted at the distorted reflection, he waited patiently and tried to search for something, anything that would be related to his father.

"You see… he lives in you" said Makarov.

His reflection was slowly coming into focus again, only this time it wasn't his reflection. No, where he was meant to see his own face, the face that appeared was that of his father. Natsu's eyes widened in shock and confusion.

'_Natsu…'_

Natsu's eyes widened even further at the sound of his name. That voice, there was no mistaking it. That was his father's voice calling him!

Natsu looked up at the sky, the wind suddenly picking up and a strange formation of clouds were approaching him. And he may be going nuts, but the clouds were starting to look like his dad's silhouette.

"Dad?" asked Natsu as the clouds gradually formed a clearer image of Igneel.

The clouds were rolling forward, the formation similar to that of a thunder storm. Lighting was visible behind his father's silhouette, and light was shining all around him. It was like a window view into heaven and Natsu was left gaping in awe at the sight.

His own father was speaking to him from heaven, he never imagined it was possible. Until now.

"_Natsu, you have forgotten me"_ said Igneel sombrely. His voice was the same, yet it sounded more ethereal and disembodied. It was both terrifying and awe inspiring.

Natsu stared at the image his father made in the sky, his words echoing in his mind.

"No way, how could I ever forget you dad?" defended Natsu.

He had been living with the guilt of killing his father for ten years, there was no way he would forget him.

"_You have forgotten who you are, and in turn forgotten me. Look inside yourself Natsu. You are more than what you have become"_ he said in a tone Natsu could only describe as fatherly disappointment.

Natsu opened his mouth to speak but words refused to come out, he was frozen by his father's words.

"_You must take your place as King"_ he said with a tone of authority.

Natsu felt like he was a child again, being scolded by his father for not doing what was expected of him. And again, as a child, he felt the need to defend himself.

"How could I possibly go back there, I'm not the same as I was before!" he yelled as he stared at his father sadly.

The clouds had now allowed his father to show his true body, a bright light illuminated him; a towering man with his arms at his sides and shoulders so broad they could hold the weight of the world. The only difference between this image and his father, was that his eyes were pure white.

"_Remember who you are. You are my son, and the one true King…"_ he said.

Natsu stared at his father in awe and loss. His father expected so much from him, did he really believe that Natsu was strong enough to face his demons and take back his home?

"_Remember… who you are…"_

Natsu noticed his father was fading, the clouds that made up his image were evaporating. Panicked he began to run after his them, wishing to keep his father in the land of the living if only for a moment longer.

"No dad! Please don't go! Don't leave me behind! I have so much I wanted to tell you!" yelled Natsu as he chased after the clouds that were once his father.

"_Remember…"_

"Don't leave me…" said Natsu as he slowed to a stop when the clouds disappeared.

"_Remember…"_

Natsu stared at the sky in silence, absorbing what his father had told him. His dad always used to tell him that he should live for the future, and make the most of the time he had. That he should be a King for the people and never be selfish. Natsu had forgotten that, Lucy had tried to remind him but he was too stubborn and selfish to listen to her.

"Well, what in the heck was with that crazy light show huh?!" yelled Makarov with a chuckle as he came beside Natsu and stared at the sky with a grin.

"Looks like the weather's gone totally nuts, don't ya think brat?" asked Makarov with a knowing smile.

Natsu smiled lightly and continued to stare up at the sky.

"Yup, looks like the seasons are changing" he said.

"Well, they do say that change is a good thing" said Makarov while stroking his chin and nodding his head.

Natsu sighed and looked to the ground "So I hear, but it's not gonna be easy" he said slightly nervous.

"I mean, I know what I have to do, but going back home means I'll have to face everything that happened. I've been running from my mistakes for so long" he said nervously, feeling very doubtful.

Suddenly Makarov's fist had grown to the size of a giant and punched Natsu right in the face, sending him back a few feet.

Natsu lay on his back on the grass in shock. That fist literally came out of nowhere!

"What the hell old man! What did ya do that for!?" yelled Natsu with a scowl as he sat up and held his aching red cheek.

Makarov chuckled and shrugged his shoulders as if it was no big deal.

"It doesn't matter, it's in the past" he said with a satisfied smirk.

"Tell that to my aching cheek! It still hurts ya know!" said Natsu as he walked up to Makarov with a scowl while still holding his cheek. He leaned down until he was at eye level with him and glared angrily.

Makarov patted Natsu on the head sympathetically which caused him to scowl irritably.

"Well of course, the past can cause pain. But ya know, the way I see it, you can either run away from it, or… learn from it" said Makarov.

Natsu sensed it this time, the flow of magic from Makarov increased and focused into his fist in an attempt to punch him again. But he wouldn't fall for it this time! Natsu dodged swiftly to his left and managed to avoid getting hit again.

Makarov chuckled in approval and amusement.

"Ya see brat! So, what will you do?" asked Makarov with a self-satisfied grin and a hand on his hip.

Natsu smirked mischievously "Well first… I think I'm gonna singe that mustache of yours" he said with an evil look and he stalked closer towards Makarov. A flaming fist raised in his direction.

Makarov paled and quickly covered his mustache protectively. He turned away from Natsu and crouched down to protect his precious moustache. He was losing his hair! There was no way he was gonna let a pyromaniac brat burn any of it off!

"No no no! Not my mustache, kid! I can't afford to lose any more of my hair!" he said slightly muffled and his eyes clenched shut.

He waited a moment. But there was only silence around him. Curious about Natsu's sudden silence he turned slightly to see what he was doing. Only to find that he was no longer behind him, but running away at high speed.

"Oi! Where the hell are ya goin' brat!?" yelled Makarov with a wave of his fist in annoyance. How dare that little punk scare him like that, he had some nerve!

"I'm going back home!" yelled Natsu with a smirk as he continued to run back to Magnolia.

Makarov blinked in stunned silence, then smirked victoriously and jumped in excitement.

"That's the way brat! Go on! Get the heck outta here!" he said with a chuckle as he raised his hand in the air and pointed at the sky with his thumb and index finger.

"You can do it… Natsu"

* * *

><p><strong>Again, sorry for the lateness. Please leave a review, love ya ;D<strong>


	13. It Is Time

**CHAPTER 13: IT IS TIME**

**A/N: Well this turned out better than expected XD, a lot of you guys were so pissed at Natsu in the last chapter, and it was so heart-breaking! Don't worry, I made it all better now.**

**I find it ironic that I started writing this before Igneel showed up in the manga, and that this story is starting to line up with it in a way. **

**I wanted to write more but then I saw I had already reached 4000 words and put on the breaks. To think it's almost the end, I'm kinda sad. Can't say for sure how many chapters are left maybe 4 or 5? Lemme know if you think there should be a sequel ;D**

**Anyway on to the main event!**

* * *

><p>"That idiot, running away from me and leaving me alone all night. What's his problem?"<p>

Lucy was trudging angrily through the forest with her cheeks puffed out, trying to find Natsu or his friends.

After his outburst last night he had just disappeared and left Lucy alone without knowing where to go. Luckily her compass spirit Pyxis knew where his camp was and directed her to a safe place to sleep for the night before heading there.

"The next time I see him, I'm gonna punch him in his pretty face" she said with a raised fist.

Suddenly she found herself at a clearing, a small fire pit and a quaint cabin behind it.

'_This must be the base camp' _she thought.

And her thoughts were confirmed when she heard two loud snores coming from the direction of the fire pit.

There, Natsu's two friends Gray and Gajeel were, huddled together like an old married couple to stay warm.

Lucy covered her mouth to stifle her laughter, if Natsu had seen this she was sure he would be laughing his butt off.

Suddenly noticing that he wasn't there she decided it was time to wake the adorable couple.

"Hey guys~" she said while poking their shoulders.

"Honeymoon's over boys, time to wake up" she said with a smile.

"Wha~?"

"Huh?"

Gajeel opened his eyes groggily, rubbing away the tiredness out of them and tried to focus on what was in front of him. Gray yawned loudly and opened one eye.

When the two realized they were in each others arms, sleep was the last thing on their minds, they were definitely awake now.

"Aaaaaahhhhhh!"

They both screamed in terror and jumped away from each other in disgust. Lucy could no longer contain her laughter and was holding her stomach from laughing too hard.

"Calm down guys" laughed Lucy as she tried to calm down their over-dramatic reactions.

Gray and Gajeel sent a terrified look in Lucy's direction, only just noticing her. They cleared their throats trying to preserve what little dignity they had left after screaming like little girls. Gray slowly got up and dusted off his pants, his shirt missing again.

"Lucy, do me a favor and tell no one what you saw" said Gray as he grabbed her shoulders pleadingly.

Gajeel still sat on the ground with his back turned in embarrassment.

Lucy rolled her eyes at Gray and folded her arms in front of her chest.

"Have you guys seen Natsu anywhere?" she asked with slight concern.

Gray and Gajeel blinked in confusion "Wasn't he with you the whole night?" asked Gray with his head tilted.

"Yeah, figured you two would be busy doing all kinds of catching up" said Gajeel with a cheeky smirk.

Lucy's face went red, "You perverts, I'm not that kind of girl!" she yelled indignantly.

'_Although I did grab his butt while we were making out'_ she thought shamefully.

"He was with me, but I can't find him anywhere, do you know where he could be?" she asked with her brows furrowed in concern.

Drunken chuckles suddenly ran in the forest, jumping into defensive stances the three tried to determine where the laughter was coming from and spotted a small old man on the branch of a tree.

Lucy's eyes widened in recognition; she knew very well who this man was, and what he was in charge of. But Gray and Gajeel just looked on the man with confusion.

"You won't find that brat here" he said with a happy chuckle.

"The King has finally returned" he continued and sent a warm smile in Lucy's direction.

Lucy's eyes widened in surprise, her anger at Natsu suddenly forgotten and replaced with joy and excitement.

"I don't believe it, the idiot decided to go back!" she cheered with a smile.

Gray and Gajeel stared at Lucy in confusion, they had no idea what that drunken old man was talking about but apparently Lucy did.

"What do you mean gone back? Who went back?" asked Gray, he glanced at where the old man was sitting only to find him gone and without answers.

"What the hell's goin' on here? Who was that old fart?!" yelled Gray in indignant confusion.

"Natsu went back to take on Acnologia" said Lucy in excitement.

"Who?" asked Gray with a brow raised in confusion.

"Acnologia" said Lucy with slight irritation.

"Is that some kind of plague?" asked Gajeel confused.

"No, that's his uncle" said Lucy as she tried to clarify things to the two idiots she seemed to be stuck with.

"The old fart's his uncle?" asked Gray while scratching the back of his head.

"No you morons! Natsu's gone back to Magnolia to challenge his uncle; Acnologia, for the throne and take his rightful place as King!" she said without taking a breath.

Gray and Gajeel blinked, slowly letting the information sink in.

"Oh~" they said in unison.

Lucy sighed in annoyance "Well, he got a bit of a head start so we better get moving if we're gonna catch up" said Lucy as she walked passed the guys.

"Wait wait wait, catch up? You expect us to go with you back to Magnolia?" said Gajeel with a raised brow.

Lucy looked back at them surprised by his question.

"Natsu is going up against not only his uncle, but a whole guild of dark mages who follow him. He's gonna need his friends to help him" she said with a serious look.

"Not that I'm doubting any of our abilities here, but are you sure just us four will be enough to take on an entire dark guild?" asked Gray doubtfully.

Lucy smirked "It won't be just us" she said full of confidence.

Gray and Gajeel glanced at each other in thought.

"And besides, if Natsu truly is your friend, would the odds really matter when it comes to helping him?" she asked with a small knowing smile.

The guys smirked at her words and pounded their fists together.

"You make a good point Blondie" said Gajeel with a feral grin.

"He may be a moron, but he's family" said Gray while cracking his knuckles.

Lucy smiled at their answers, happy that Natsu had found such great friends on his own.

"Well then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" she said as she walked away.

"Uh, Blondie, Magnolia's the other way" said Gajeel pointing to his left.

"I know that, but you guys don't honestly think I _walked_ all the way to this forest do you?" she asked with a raised brow and a smirk.

Gray and Gajeel looked at her confused.

Lucy grinned, a look that reminded them of Natsu's cheeky grin was on her face.

"We'll get to Magnolia in no time boys"

* * *

><p>After countless hours of non-stop running, Natsu finally made it back to Magnolia…<p>

Or, what was left of it at least.

He was standing on a hill that allowed him to see his entire kingdom and the walls surrounding it.

He couldn't believe what he was seeing. His once prosperous home, that held so many happy people and was once so lively, was now reduced to a slum, a ghost town.

The sight saddened his heart, how had things gone so wrong while he was gone. There wasn't a soul in sight, save for the dark mages guarding the front entrance. Natsu was careful to stay out of their sights and scowled angrily at them.

His gaze shifted towards the castle where his uncle was surely staying. Natsu clenched his fist angrily, his uncle would pay for what he's done.

He suddenly heard a noise behind him, it sounded like screeching tires?

He looked back and saw a magical car, and at the front was none other than Lucy, and was that Gajeel's head sticking out of the window?

Natsu could relate, he had ridden in one once as a child, he had a severe case of motion sickness and vowed never to ride in one again.

The vehicle came to a stop a few feet away from him, Lucy pulled the SE plug off her wrist and ran towards Natsu, with Gray trying to pull an almost lifeless Gajeel out of the car and over his shoulders.

"Natsu!" yelled Lucy as she made her way towards him.

"Lucy?" he said in shock, how did she know he was there?

Now that he thought about it, he was a complete jerk to her the last time they spoke, not to mention he left her alone in the forest at night. Not such a cool thing for a guy to do; especially to the girl you love.

"Lucy I-"

_SLAP!_

The second Lucy was within reach she slapped Natsu across the face with as much force as she could muster. His cheek was now a brilliant red and his face had turned from the impact.

"Ouch!" he yelled as he put a hand on his red cheek in pain.

Lucy huffed in relief "Not exactly a punch in the face but I feel satisfied enough" she said putting her hands on her hips and a satisfied smile on her face.

"Lucy… I-"

"You and I both know you had that coming, but since I'm not one to hold a grudge I'll forgive you" she said with a smile and a wink.

Gray looked at the scene from the vehicle in mild terror _'If that's forgiveness remind me never to get her mad at me'_ he thought.

"Sorry" said Natsu as he took hold of Lucy's now red hand that she used to slap him.

Lucy smiled and gave him a hug.

'_At least he knows he was a jerk and felt bad about it'_ she thought.

Over his shoulder she could see Magnolia and the front entrance. She pulled out of their embrace and faced her ruined home sadly.

"It's terrible, isn't it?" she said with a sad look.

Natsu nodded his head and looked at his old home.

"I honestly didn't want to believe you" he said as he stared on sadly.

"So, what finally made you change your mind about coming back?" she asked with her arms crossed and a curious look.

"Let's just say I had some sense punched into me, and I've still got the lump to prove it" he said while rubbing his still sore head with a small smile.

"Besides, this is my home. If I don't protect it who will?" he asked with a determined look.

"I will" said Lucy looking at Natsu with an equally determined gaze.

Natsu raised a brow at her "It's going to be dangerous Lucy" he said in mild warning.

"Danger? Ha! I laugh in the face of danger" she said with a smug grin as she reminded Natsu of what he once said to her as a child.

"You got a morbid sense a humor if ya think this is funny Blondie" said Gajeel as he walked up behind them with Gray in tow. It seemed he finally got over his motion sickness and could walk on his own again.

"What are you guys doin' here?" asked Natsu curiously.

"We can't have you starting a fight without us now can we?" asked Gray with a smirk as he came to give Natsu a fist bump.

"But man, Magnolia's gone to shit since the last time I saw it. We gonna fight for this dump?" asked Gajeel as he stared at Magnolia in apprehension.

"That's right pin cushion. This is my home after all" said Natsu as he looked on with determination.

Gajeel sighed and ruffled his long hair "Talk about needing home improvement. Well Salamander, let's do this thing" said Gajeel as he raised his fist towards Natsu and smirked.

Natsu smiled gratefully at his friends, he bumped Gajeel's fist with his own and stared down at his home.

* * *

><p>The group moved closer to the castle entrance while still remaining concealed in the trees surrounding it. They moved quickly and quietly as they tried to count how many guards they'd have to deal with.<p>

"Dark mages" said Gajeel in disgust.

"Filthy bastards" said Gray.

"So what's the plan Natsu?" asked Gajeel quietly.

Natsu blinked and turned to the guys with wide eyes.

"Uhm… storm the walls?" he asked.

The boys just sighed in exasperation, they should have expected as much, Natsu wasn't the stealthiest person around, he liked it big and he liked it loud.

"I have a plan, but you two are not gonna like it" said Lucy as she pointed at Gray and Gajeel.

They raised their brows at her.

"Well it can't be worse than the time we made Gray dress up in drag and do the hula for us" said Gajeel suddenly.

Natsu and Gray both turned green at that statement while Lucy just stared at them in surprise.

"Why would you make him do that?" asked Lucy in confusion.

"I thought we agreed never to speak of that again?!" whispered Gray angrily.

"Oh God, I can't get the image outta my head. Ugh, that was just horrifying" said Natsu covering his eyes with his palms.

"He lost a bet" said Gajeel with an indifferent look.

Lucy nodded in understanding, these boys sure liked to do stupid stuff with their free time.

"So what's the plan Luce?" asked Natsu as he got over his disgust.

"Well, I'm the only one allowed back inside right? And I was sent out on a bounty hunting mission…" she said as she stared at Gray and Gajeel, letting the rest of her statement hang in the air.

They blinked when they put together what she was planning.

"Oh, no way"

"You can't be serious?"

"I don't get it"

"Come on guys, and the best part is I can bring you right inside the palace without any problems. Even Natsu can get in if we cover up his hair" she said with a sheepish smirk.

"Wait, you want to bring us in as prisoners?" asked Natsu, finally getting a clue.

"It's the best way to get inside without causing a fuss" defended Lucy.

They three guys sighed in defeat.

"Guess that makes sense" said Gray.

"I don't like this one bit" said Gajeel.

"How are you gonna convince them if you hold all three of us on your own?" asked Natsu suddenly.

Lucy smirked and brought out her lion spirit's key.

Natsu scowled "Have I mentioned that I really don't like that guy?" he asked in annoyance.

"Oh don't be such a baby, but before I bring him out there's something I have to do first" she said as she brought out her maiden's key.

"Open gate of the maiden! Virgo!" she whispered.

Virgo appeared in front of her and bowed respectfully.

"Gooday princess, how may I be of help?" the forever stoic spirit asked.

"I need you to tunnel underground and give this message to Jellal immediately, you remember where the hideout is right?" she said while handing a note to Virgo.

"Yes of course, will there be punishment later princess?" she asked as she took the note.

"Of course not, quit asking me!" said Lucy indignantly.

"I'll be off then" she said backing away slowly.

"Be careful, and make sure you aren't detected Virgo" said Lucy with concern.

Virgo smiled at her master's care and nodded her head as she started digging her tunnel.

"Why couldn't we just go underground with her?" asked Gray in confusion.

"There are magical barriers surrounding the castle, taking you there as prisoners at least gets us inside without any problems. Besides, we need to let the rebellion know about what's going on as soon as possible" explained Lucy seriously.

"Oh~" they said in unison.

"Wow Lucy, you're a genius" said Natsu impressed.

"Well~" said Lucy as she rubbed the back of her head bashfully.

"Ok, enough with the lovey-dovey crap, let's get inside already" huffed Gajeel in annoyance.

Lucy scowled at him in annoyance "Man, is Levy gonna have a problem with you" she said suddenly as she pulled out Loke's key.

"Who?"

"Open gate of the lion, Loke!"

* * *

><p>Lucy and Loke were now making their way towards the gate to enter Magnolia, Loke was holding Gray and Gajeel in magic binding cuffs, while Lucy was holding a now hooded Natsu and pushing them in front.<p>

The gate was as high as five Vulcans, and had guards stationed at the top on the walls surrounding the kingdom, while there were two on the ground on the inside that operated the gate.

"Oi, who goes down there?!" yelled one of the guards.

"Lucy Heartfilia! I have returned from my mission and brought the prisoners!" she answered while gesturing towards the guys.

"Let us in so that we may take them to the palace dungeon for questioning!" said Loke.

"Don't go thinking ya can tell me what to do, ya filthy spirit!" yelled the second guard.

Lucy scowled and clenched her fist at the abusive words. She so wished to lash out at that man but their plan required her to keep a cool head for now.

"Hey Heartfilia, flash me some skin and maybe I'll let ya in!" barked one of the guards with an annoying laugh and a perverted grin.

Lucy growled in annoyance. Every time she went out on a mission these guys gave her trouble.

She felt Natsu's skin burning from anger and leaned in to whisper in his ear.

"Calm down Natsu, don't worry I'll handle it" she said reassuringly.

"How would the King feel knowing his guards are cheating him out of his tax money, and keeping it all to themselves?" she threatened with a raised brow.

The guards immediately recoiled and scowled at her.

"You bitch, and why would he believe you?" they argued.

"Hmm, let me think, the word of a drunken dark mage? Or the word of a wizard who lives in the palace? Whose do you think he's more likely to believe?" she asked with a sly smirk.

The guards growled angrily and gestured for the guards inside to open the gate.

"That's more I like it" she said with a victorious smirk as they waited for the gate to open completely.

"Mark my words Heartfilia, you better watch your back!" yelled the guard as she walked towards the castle.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm quaking in my boots" she said with an uncaring wave.

The city was quiet. There was hardly a soul to be found, other than the occasional hobo in an abandoned alleyway, and a dog scavenging for scraps of anything.

"That was pretty badass there Blondie. I gotta say you've earned my respect for dealing with that crap" said Gajeel in a hushed tone.

"Yeah well, dealing with pervs in this kingdom is like second nature now. You just gotta know how to shut em up" said Lucy as she scanned the streets for guards.

"Scumbags, I outta go beat the living crap outta them for talking to you like that" Natsu seethed.

"Agreed, no man should talk to a lady as beautiful as Lucy in such a disgusting manner" said Loke with a scowl.

"Guys, sweet as you are I can handle myself" said Lucy with a bashful smile.

They had to agree on that, Lucy was tough as nails and she could fend for herself. But a lady deserves to be protected every once in a while right?

"And hey, quit flirting with Lucy you pervy cat. She's taken" said Natsu with a scowl.

Lucy blushed furiously and send a bewildered look at Natsu. Loke just adjusted his glasses without a care.

"Funny, I don't see a ring on her finger. Are you sure you're not the only one who thinks that?" said Loke with a smirk.

"Na-!"

"Loke! Knock it off!" threatened Lucy with an angry blush.

Loke put his hand up in a sign of surrender and continued forward without a word.

"Sorry about him, he can be a little overprotective sometimes" said Lucy with a sheepish smile.

"Lucy"

Natsu's sudden serious tone stunned Lucy into silence. Was he mad at her?

"W-When this is all over… w-w-would you… you know? Argh! Man I suck with words!" complained Natsu as his cheeks started glowing red.

"Natsu"

"I mean-"

Lucy shut Natsu up by giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, a small smile formed on her face. She had a pretty good idea about what he wanted to ask her, but she really didn't want him to ask her at a time like this.

"Why don't you figure out how to tell me after we kick Acnologia's butt, alright?" she asked with a wink.

Natsu stared at her a moment and then grinned impishly. The thing he loved the most about Lucy was that they didn't even have to tell each other what they were feeling, they somehow always knew.

"Aye sir!" he said happily.

* * *

><p>"Ugh, how much longer do we have to go?" asked Gray in annoyance.<p>

"We're almost there guys. As soon as we get in we make sure there are no guards around and make our move" said Lucy as they approached the front entrance of the palace.

"Can't we just start cracking skulls as soon as we're inside?" asked Gajeel glancing at Lucy.

"We need to make sure to get as close to the staircase as possible without raising any alarms. If Acnologia surrounds himself with his protection detail before we get to him we may not stand a chance" said Loke while adjusting his glasses.

"He's right. Until reinforcements get here we have to rely on stealth" said Lucy.

They approached the front door of the castle where a single man was standing guard.

"Lucy, I see your mission went well, very MANLY of you to finish it so quickly!" said the large guard with a smirk.

"Thanks Elfman, mind letting us in?" said Lucy with a smile.

Natsu's eyes widened at the sight of one of his old friends. Elfman sure had changed since he last saw him; he used to be such a little wimp, now he's some kind of scary muscle man.

"No problem for a MAN!" he said as he opened the door.

"Thanks a bunch" Lucy said, she then gestured for Elfman to come closer so that she could whisper something.

"What is it?" Elfman whispered.

"We're making a move today, make sure to let as many of the others know as you can. We're taking back our home" whispered Lucy determinately.

Elfman's eyes widened in surprise, he started tearing up at the prospect of freedom.

"You mean it? I can finally get my sisters out of that dungeon?" he asked with a hopeful smile.

Lucy smiled and nodded in confirmation while patting Elfman on his shoulder.

"Them and everyone else who's in there" she said as she walked past him and entered the castle at last.

"You're a real MAN Lucy!" yelled Elfman with a happy grin.

Lucy sweat-dropped "Not really a complement, but I understand the sentiment" she said with a sheepish smile.

* * *

><p>They finally made it to the staircase leading to the throne room, luckily the guards that were meant to be stationed there were called somewhere else.<p>

"Looks like my luck has finally paid off" said Lucy with a relieved smile.

"So where do we go from here Lucy?" asked Loke as he looked to his master expectantly.

"You walk around with Gray and Gajeel knocking out as many guards as you can without drawing attention. Then I want you to try and find Levy and Juvia to let them know what's going on. We'll need all the help we can get" said Lucy while pointing down the hall.

"Got it" said Loke with a nod.

"Meanwhile Natsu and I will take the secret entrance into the throne room and confront Acnologia. I'll try and find your mother and sister and get them to safety" she said as she looked at Natsu.

Natsu nodded in agreement.

"What about the guys in the dungeon?" asked Gray after Loke un-cuffed him and Gajeel.

"Try to save them if you can. I could be wrong, but I have a feeling Erza is down there as well" said Lucy with a downcast expression.

"What? How in the hell did that happen?" asked Natsu in shock.

"Not important right now. Erza is one of our strongest mages, if we want any hope of winning she has to be set free. Mira too, think you can do it Loke?" asked Lucy in concern.

"No problem beautiful, you can count on us" he said with a smirk.

Lucy nodded and turned to Natsu.

"Are you ready to do this?" she asked in concern.

Natsu looked over the faces surrounding him and how they looked to him for reassurance. He smirked and nodded his head in confirmation.

"Let's get our home back"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Let me know what you think by leaving a review guys, JellyBean loves you all O3O**


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